The Summoning
by Amy47101
Summary: Dawn used to have a pretty good life. That was, until she saw her first ghost. Now locked away in Lyle House, a group home for troubled teens, she finds there are more to the teen residents than meets the eye. Now Dawn has to wonder... will she discover the secrets behind Lyle House, or will its skeletons come back to haunt her? Ikari, Quest, and OCxOC
1. Prologue

**Okay, I was actually thinking about this story for a long time now. First, I will say it is based mostly, BUT NOT ENTIRELY, off of my favorite six-book series by Kelley Armstrong: The Summoning. **

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or the Summoning, which respectively belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_Prologue_

o.0.o.0.o

Daddy forgot to tell the new babysitter about the basement.

Dawn stood at the top step, one hand clutching the railing, the other her Piplup plush doll. The hand clutching the railing was gripping the smooth wood so tight that the young girls knuckles were white. She was shaking, shaking so much that the Vulpix heads on her slippers bobbed, which she would've found hilarious if she wasn't so scared. Even her own breath shook, shaking like she had been running.

"Dawn?" Samantha's muffled voice drifted up from the dark debts of basement. "Your Dad said the Pepsi's in the cold cellar, but I can't find it. Can you come down and help me?" Dawn readjusted her clammy but firm grip on the railing, squeezing the Piplup plush so tight she was sure that, if it was real, it wouldn't be breathing.

Daddy swore he told Samantha about the basement. Dawn knew he did. Wracking her mind for the moments before her parents left, Dawn remembered playing in the TV room. Then Daddy called her into the hallway, where he scooped her up in his arms in a hug.

"I see you're playing with Princess- _Pirate _Aurora. Did she save Prince Aaron from those horrible Houndoom yet?" Dawn shook her head with a smile, but the smile immediately turned into a serious- as serious as a three-year-old girl can look- frown.

"Did you tell Samantha about the basement?" she whispered.

"We most certainly did." he mother came out, clipping her hair back in last minute preparation to get ready. She kissed Dawn on her forehead in goodbye with a smile before continuing. "No basements for Little Miss Dawn. That door stays closed." she turned back towards her husband. "We really need to think about moving, Edgar."

"Say the word and the sign goes up." Daddy said before setting Dawn down, and ruffling her hair. "Be good for Samantha, kiddo."

And like that, they were gone.

"Dawn, I know you can hear me." Samantha called up to her again. Dawn peeled her hand from the railing, and with her plush still tucked in the crook of her arm, she stuck them in her ears. "Dawn!"

"I c-can't go in the basement." Dawn said shakily, pulling her fingers out of her ears and yelling down louder. "I-I'm not allowed!"

"Well, I'm in charge and I say you are." Samantha said. "You're a big girl." Dawn forced her feet to move down the stairs, one step, then another. The back of her throat was dry and everything around her looked fuzzy, like she was going to cry. "Dawn, get down here or I'll lock you in here and throw away the key!"

Dawn ran down the stairs so fast that she tumbled down the steps and landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. This time, tears poured freely down her cheeks as she curled into a ball, her ankle throbbing, trying to find her Piplup plush. Once she found it, she hugged it reassuringly, staring into the basement with it's creaks and smells and shadows.

And Mrs. Hobb.

There would be others, too, before Mrs. Hobb scared them away. Like Ms. Mary who played peek-a-boo with her but called her Aura. And Mr. John, who showed her tons of magic tricks, and Mr. Roberts, who always asked her strange questions like if people lived on the moon yet. Most of the time, she didn't know the answer, but he would always smile and give her a pat on the head, telling her she was a good girl.

Truthfully, she used to like coming downstairs and talking to the people. All she had to do was not look behind the furnace. There, a man was hanging from the ceiling, his face all purple and puffy. He never said anything, but looking at him always made Dawns tummy hurt.

"Dawn? You coming?" Samantha asked. Dawn let out a shaky breath and stood up, her ankle hurting slightly. Daddy would say 'think about the good parts, not the bad'. So Dawn stepped bravely into the basement, thinking about Ms. Mary and Mr. John and Mr. Roberts and completely pushing Mrs. Hobb out of her mind. She didn't think about her one bit... or at least not very much.

She squinted into the darkness, the only light illuminating her way to the cold cellar being the many night lights that Mommy had bought because she thought she was scared of the dark. Don't get her wrong, Dawn _was _scared of the dark. But that was only because it gave Mrs. Hobb a chance to sneak up on her.

Dawn could see the cold cellar door, though, and so she tried not to look at anything but that, and walked forward as quickly as she could. When something moved, however, Dawn forgot about not looking, and whirled around. She felt a small sense of relief when she realized it was only the hanging man, his hand peeking out from behind the furnace as he swung back and forth, back and forth...

She ran to the cold cellar door and yanked it open. Inside, pitch black, darker than it already was in the basement, if that was possible.

"Dawn?" Samantha called from the darkness. Dawn clenched her fists, fingers squeezing angrily into the plush softness of her Piplup toy. Now Samantha was being _really _mean. Hiding on her-

Footsteps pattered overhead. Mommy? Daddy? Home already?

"Come on, Dawn, you're not afraid of the dark, are you?" Samantha laughed. "I guess you're still a little baby after all."

Dawn scowled. Samantha didn't know anything. Just a stupid, mean girl. She would get her her Pepsi and then run upstairs to tell Mommy. Then Samantha would never have to babysit her again.

She leaned into the tiny room, trying to remember where Mommy kept the Pepsi. Wasn't that it on the shelf? She darted over and reached up, standing up on her tiptoes. She reached higher, slightly higher, and then her fingers closed around the cool metal can.

"Dawn? Dawn?!" It was Samantha again, only her voice was far away, shrill. Footsteps pounded overhead. "Dawn, where are you?!" Dawn dropped the can. It hit the concrete, hissing and spitting, soda completely soaking her slippers.

"Dawn, Dawn, where are you?" a voice mimicked behind her, like Samantha's, but not quite.

Slowly, Dawn turned.

In the doorway stood an old lady in a pink housecoat, her eyes and teeth glittering in the darkness. Mrs. Hobb. Dawn wanted to squeeze her eyes shut, she really did, but she also knew it only made Mrs. Hobb madder, made everything so much worse.

Mrs. Hobbs skin began to ripple and squirm. Then it went black and shiny, crackling like twigs in a campfire. Huge chunks fell off onto the floor, and her hair sizzled and burned away. And then there was nothing left but a skull dotted with blackened scraps of flesh. The jaws opened, the teeth still glittering. Slowly, she spoke three words.

"Welcome back, Dawn."

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**Read, review, and enjoy!**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	2. Life's Swaying

**So I'm hoping this next chapter will shed some light on the crazy prologue. ^.^ Note that this will be told completely from Dawns P.O.V.**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or the overall plot, which is based off of Kelley Armstrongs ****_The Summoning._**

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_The Summoning_

_Life's Swaying_

o.0.o.0.o

_Twelve years later..._

I awoke with a start, heart pounding, drenched in a cold sweat. I grabbed at the amethyst pendant around my neck, letting out long, deep breaths as I tried to collect fragments of the dream that were already drifting out of my reach. A little girl... me? I wasn't sure... Something about a basement... and something scary in the basement.

Well that makes no sense. I always lived in top-notch condo apartments since my Dad died... And aren't basements naturally scary? I shivered just thinking about them, dark and damp and empty. But this one wasn't empty... there was something... something _horrifying _down there... a man behind the furnace...?

A bang on my bedroom door made me jump all over again.

"Dawn!" Andrea shrieked at an almost earsplitting level. "Why hasn't your alarm gone off?! I'm your housekeeper, not your nanny! I swear, if you're late again, I'm calling you mother!"

I rolled my eyes. As far as threats went, there weren't anywhere _near _as scary as nightmares. I knew full well that if, somehow, Andrea managed to get a hold of my mother in Hoenn, she'd just pretend to listen, eyes instead on her laptop, attention riveted to something much more important, like, say the weather forecast for the upcoming outdoor contest in whatever city she was in. She'd just murmur a vague 'Yes, I'll get to it when I get back' and then forget all about me the minute she hit the 'end call' button.

"Dawn!" Andrea shrieked again. I sighed, turned to my radio, cranked it up as loud as it would go, and got out of bed.

o.0.o.0.o

A half an hour later, I was standing in my bathroom, getting ready for school. I smiled happily at my reflection, running a comb through my navy-blue locks. Slowly, I began to clip my hair up in my gold clips, but only finding two. Tilting my head to the side, I concluded that my hair didn't look quite right without the third one. I pulled the other two out, and glanced in the mirror again. Better...

"Why don't I wear it down more often?" I mumbled to myself as I turned away from the mirror for a side view.

"Dawn!" shrieked Andrea, the door shuddering under her meaty fist. That poor door... taking the brunt of the attack...

"I'm on the toilet! Privacy would be appreciated!" I shouted back. I glanced at my Piplup, who's face basically said it all. I better get myself moving. _Fast. _For the sake of the door... and perhaps my own life... and maybe even the _world..._

"DAWN! I'm picking up the phone! I'm dialing!"

"I'm leaving!" I shouted as I threw open the door. Arceus, Andrea is such a pain.

o.0.o.0.o

The buildings may change, but my routine never did. I took the stairs, as always. With a content sigh, placing my hands on my hips, I stared down at the stairs like they were some great feat that I had to conquer. Ever since the day I started kindergarden, my dad would hold my hand, and we'd both stare down at the stairs, together, like they were something we both had to conquer.

"Ready, Dawn?" he'd always ask. "One, two-"

"Three!" I'd always chirp, then bolted down the stairs as fast as we could, almost tumbling down a couple times, but always ended up sitting at the bottom step, laughing and panting, the floor swaying under our unsteady feet, and like that, my fears of school were gone. It continued like that all the way through kindergarden, first grade, and halfway through second grade and then, well, there wasn't anyone to run with anymore.

I paused at the bottom of my running feat, panting slightly, and touched the amethyst charm under my black tank-top. With a sigh, I shook of past memories, hoisted my backpack, and walked from the stairwell.

After my Dad died, my Mom went on a crazy contest spree, winning flawlessly and, as of now, short only five measly ribbons from having every ribbon in the Sinnoh region. She had ten Grand Festival cups, a record among any coordinator in the world. When my Mom walked into the Contest Hall, everyone kissed their chances of winning goodbye. Yeah, she was that good.

Along with the fame came an unbelievable amount of cash money, thus how we can afford to live in luxury condo apartments. Downside was, well, we moved. _A lot. _Every new town, I wasn't Dawn. Just 'The New Girl'. Of course, people eventually caught on to my actual name, but by then, we were moving on to the next town with a new contest, new house, and new people. Putting down roots was obviously not important. Not to her, at least

Somehow, though, I managed to convince my mom to let my live in Twinleaf(score!), in the same neighborhood as my best childhood friend, Kenny(double score!). Since my mom trusted Kenny to take care of me-even though I had overbearing Andrea- she let me stay to finish out high school in Twinleaf High, the public school that I insisted I go to just to be 'normal'(Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!). Besides, I didn't want to wear those stuffy uniforms of Sangem Acedemy in the next town over. Hello, where's the personality?!

Walking outside the apartment building, immediately spotting Kennys baby-blue convertible, I began to wonder if taking the stairs was really such a good idea. I mean, tradition is good and all, but my stomach was already turning with anxiety at the Geometry test I had coming up today. Geometry is not, in any way, my best subject. I _really _screwed up on the last test, and right now, probably averaged out at C-. If I bombed todays test, I had no doubt in my mind my grade would plummet to a D, and if I didn't pull it up, my Mom might actually notice and begin to wonder if the public school was really such a good idea.

"'Morning." Kenny said to me as I climbed into the passenger side of the car. He reached over and gave Piplup a pat on the head. "Hey Piplup." there was a pause, not uncomfortable, but a simple lapse in time when neither of us had anything to say. "So I practiced some contest combinations last night. I'm totally passing that coordinating test today."

"Shit," I mumbled under my breath. "I completely forgot about that test! Stupid Geometry..."

"Ah, late night studying again?" Kenny said as he merged into the next lane. I nodded, leaning my head back with an exasperated sigh.

"Arceus, yes. I swear if I bomb this test like the next one, I'm getting a D."

"Well," Kenny said thoughtfully, stopping at a red light. "If you studied so hard, you should so fine! And besides, the coordinating test today is on beauty and coordination. You could probably just wing it and _still _get an A." he let out an exasperated sigh. "I wish I had those damn good coordinating genes."

"Kenny, you know as well as I do that I earned my A in that class." I said with an eye roll.

"I know, but Arceus, how do you do it? It's _insane." _I laughed at this, and just like that, Geometry and Coordinating worries were gone. Kenny had that special charm to him, really, that could always cheer you up, even though he was a constant tease. So we talked up coordinating for a while, my favorite subject.

When Kenny went on about the appeal he planned on using in our class, I turned my attention out the window. A long haired boy carrying an old-fashioned plastic lunch box with a pokémon on it darted through crowds of walking teenagers and adults on their way to school and work, respectively. I was so busy trying to figure out which pokémon it was, I didn't realize where the boy was heading until he leapt off the curb, directly in front of us.

"Kenny!" I screamed. "Watch-" The last words were ripped from my lungs as I slammed against my seatbelt. The driver behind us, and the one behind him, laid on their horns, a chain reaction of protest.

"What?" Kenny asked worriedly. "Dawn, what is it?" I looked over the hood of the car and saw... nothing. Just an empty lane with traffic veering to our left, drivers flashing Kenny the finger as they passed us by.

"Th-th-th-" I clenched my fists, as if this would somehow force the word out. If I get jammed up, I should try a different route. "I thought I saw some-wha-wha-" Speak slowly, consider your words, Dawn! "I'm sorry. I thought I saw someone pass in front of us." Kenny, without so much of a second thought, eased the convertible forward.

"That happens to me sometimes, Dee-dee," he said my irritating nickname teasingly, trying to lighten the mood. "Especially when I turn my head. Think you see someone, but there's no one there."

I nodded, rationality kicking in. I _was _up till three in the morning last night. Probably dozed off unknowingly, and dreamed up the boy.

As we pulled into the school parking lot, my stomach began hurting again.

o.0.o.0.o

School. Not much to say about it. It's, well, school. At Twinleaf High, we're basically the leftovers from the three other schools within the community. Sangem Academy, the school for the elite, Central Tech, which is where the delinquents reside, and T.F. Gurny, which is the breeding grounds for the popular. All the kids at Twinleaf are the bullied who had nowhere else to go, and, due to this, everyone seems to think that everything here is happy and fantastic with flowers and butterfrees. But really, they couldn't be more wrong. True, we're accepting here, but anywhere and everywhere, lines are drawn. Instead of populars, geeks, nobodies, and jocks, we get battlers, bookworms, coordinators, and artists.

Being a coordinator, I basically have myself put in with the other coordinators, though most, if not all, are somewhat envious at my natural knack for the event. Most of the time, I get fanboys, and even fangirls, begging me for dates and advice, respectively. I'm one to freely give advice, but I'm going to be completely honest here. I've never been on a date, and really don't want to go out with some guy who basically spends his free time drooling over me. Sorry, but that's weird.

Aside the fact, today was strange for me. I couldn't get the boy I swear I imagined out of my mind. I just felt plain weird. Through my first two blocks and half of lunch, all I thought about was the boy with the lunchbox. Thousands of reasonable explanations flashed through my mind: I've been staring to intently at his lunchbox, and I misjudged where he was running. Or he jumped into a car on the curb. Or I just plain dozed off from lack of sleep. I _am _dead tired. Really, all these explanations made perfect, logical sense.

So why was it still bugging me?

o.0.o.0.o

"Crap." I muttered as I entered the crowded hallways from the cafeteria.

"What is it?" Kenny came up next to me.

"I had an emergency cheerleading meeting, and completely left my bag in the locker room. All my pokéballs were in there and I have that coordinating test next..." I looked over at him. "Cover for me?"

"Nurses excuse." he said with a shrug. "Mr. Bertly may be a great coordinator, but the minute you say a female went to the nurse..."

"He assumes it's _that time _of the month." I smirked. "And won't question a thing."

"You'd think he would've caught on by now." Kenny said with a shrug. "See you in a few minutes then. Hope you feel better." he said the last part teasingly, and I rolled my eyes, heading in the opposite direction, waving over my shoulder as he walked towards the battlefield hall.

o.0.o.0.o

Cheerleading meeting was done, and whoever was in here turned out the lights, basically leaving me in pitch blackness as I tried to maneuver my way around gym equipment and the maze of lockers to find my precious bag. I couldn't turn on the switch, but doing that would require _seeing _it.

...

Glow-in-the-dark light switches. That's how I'll finance my travels for coordinating. Of course, I'll need someone to _make _them for me. I let out a huff. Like most coordinators, I was more of an idea person.

I picked my way through the lockers, bashing my knees twice, hitting my elbow on a locker, and banging my head on a horribly placed pipe. At this rate, I was going to need to actually go to the nurse for battery. Finally, I spotted it, my florescent yellow backpack practically glowing in the darkness. I snatched it into my hand, and quickly ran my hand along the inside of the pocket containing my pokéballs. Piplup, Bunneary, Pachirusu, Quilava, Togekiss, and Mamoswine... yep, all here.

Suddenly, my skin bristled from the feeling of being watched. First off, I seriously hated the dark to begin with. I had some bad experiences as a child, dreamed up people in the dark who liked to pop out and scare me. Yeah, I know it sounds weird. Most kids create playmates- I dreamt up boogeymen. A sob broke through the darkness, dissolving into wet sniffles.

"Uh..." I said as the sniffling continued. Slowly, I began to maneuver my way back to the stairs and up to the gym. "You okay?" Nothing but sniffling. Another sob, and I swore I saw a flash of glowing blond hair in the darkness._ Glowing _blond hair. Suddenly, I tripped on the bottom step, thankful that, somehow, in my distracted state, I managed to find my escape route. "Okay, I'll be leaving now. Hope you feel better!"

All I heard were harsh sobs as I broke through the door and into the light of the auditorium.

o.0.o.0.o

I sat in the bathroom, splashing cold water on my face and trying to calm myself from whatever happened in the locker rooms. Screw the coordinating test, I decided. I needed some time to think things out, figure out what the hell is wrong with my mind. After I shoved my backpack into my locker, I ran here, in the big handicapped stall with a sink.

Slowly, I leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position, resting my head in my hands. I'd been seeing and hearing all sorts of wacky things today. The boy with the lunchbox, the sobbing girl with glowing hair... surely just figments of my imagination, right?

I heard the door open, and silently prayed it wasn't a hall monitor searching for skippers. Someone went into the stall, locked it, and then sobbing. The same sobbing I heard in the locker rooms. What should I do? Ask her if she was okay? Or would that only embarrass her? Someone else came into the bathroom, and then in the stall. This girl seemed oblivious to the sobs. I looked under the wall separating the stalls, and saw a pair of converses... but nothing else. The sobbing continued as the converse girl flushed the toilet and went to wash her hands. The bathroom door swung open, and then shut gently with a low creak.

The sobbing continued.

Again, I ducked to see if there was anyone that I missed. No one. Nothing in any of the stalls. I was completely alone. Now utterly scared and freaked out, I slammed open the door and yanked open the bathroom door until I was out in the hallway, taking deep breaths and trying to calm my now racing heart. I'm just tired. Up till three in the morning, studying for the Geometry test...

"You!" Crap. I'm in the hallway with no pass and on the verge of a breakdown. How am I going to explain this? I spun to see a custodian walking towards me, and let out a sigh of relief. Not a teacher, just some cleaning guy they hired to clean between classes.

"Th-The bathroom." I said as he came upon me. "I was using the bathroom." He was still coming, hands clenched into fists that swung back and forth as he angrily stomped towards me. I didn't recognize him... newbee? "I-I'm heading back to class now." I turned and walked in some random direction, the exact opposite of the direction that my coordinating class was, now that I think about it, and kept at a steady pace.

"You! Get back here, I want to talk to you." he said again. The halls were vacant, only me and custodian dude. And the only footsteps echoing across the walls where _my _footsteps. Why couldn't I hear _his? _I walked faster.

A blur passed me, and the air shimmered about ten feet ahead, taking the form of a custodians shirt and slacks. I didn't wait for the rest of his limbs and head to appear. I whizzed around so fast that I nearly got whiplash, and then bolted.

I slammed into another student, who looked at me strangely, but accepted my quickly muttered apology. I looked over my shoulder, closed my eyes and let out a sigh of relief when I realized he was gone. See, Dawn? Lack of sleep is making you delusional... When I opened my eyes, however, I was staring straight at the custodians shirt. Slowly, I looked up... and shrieked.

He looked like a mannequin that had gotten to close to a fire. Face burned and melted. One eye bulged, exposed, the other drooping down his face, sliding down in a mess near his cheekbone. The whole cheek was sagging, lips drooping, skin shiny and misshapen. The deformed lips turned into what I supposed would've been a cruel smirk.

"Maybe _now _you'll listen to me," he said as he reached up, looking ready to grab me. I shrieked again, turned, and bolted headlong down the hallway. A door opened, and a teacher stuck his head out.

"Dawn?" the teacher asked as I flew by. I kept running.

"Talk to me!" the horrible garbled voice snarled, coming closer and closer the faster I ran. "Do you know how long I've been trapped here?!" I flew through a doorway and bolted up a flight of stairs. Up?! What was I thinking, all stupid heroines head up!

I veered across the landing and hit the next set of stairs, taking two at a time, my sneakers hitting each step with a fast, panicked slap. I dared to glance over my shoulder, and saw the custodian limping up the stairs, fingers gripping the railing. Melted fingers, scorched fingers, with bone peeking through...

I barreled through the doors and into the main hall, running.

"Listen, you selfish brat, all I want is five damn minutes-" I swerved into the nearest empty classroom and slammed the door shut behind me. This isn't real, it couldn't be real. The custodian stepped through the door, _straight through it, _the melted, horrifying face replaced by what I supposed would be his normal face before... _whatever _happened happened to him. "There, is that better? Now will you stop screaming and talk to-"

I didn't listen. I darted to the window, looking down below. A two story drop, I supposed, with nothing but grass to break my fall. Regardless, I began trying to unlatch the window.

"Dawn!" it was my Geometry teacher, Ms. Casserta followed by the male teacher who called my name earlier and Mr. Bertly, my coordinating constructer. Seeing me and my panicked expression by the window, Ms. Casserta through out her arms, stopping the two men from coming any closer. "Dawn," Ms. Casserta said, swallowing nervously. "Honey, you need to step away from that window."

"But I just-"

"Dawn..." I was so confused. Confusion clouding my thoughts, I glanced back at the window. Suddenly, Mr. Bertly darted around and tackled me to the ground. As we hit the floor a good distance away from the window, the air flew out of my lungs. As her scrambled to get off me, I got kneed in the stomach, and I doubled over, wheezing.

I opened my eyes and saw the custodian standing over me. I screamed, and tried to get off, but Mr. Bertly and the other teacher held me down while Ms. Casserta babbled into a cellphone. The custodian leaned through, _through, _Mr. Bertly, smirking.

"Now will you listen? Can't get away."

Instinct told me to fight. I thrashed, but they only held me tighter. I kicked at the custodian, trying to pull away. I vaguely heard Ms. Casserta shout that help was on the way. The custodian pushed his face into mine, his nose just inches from my own, and transformed back to that horrible, melted mask of a face. I was practically staring into the bulging eye, so close that I was sure it would pop. Then I screamed bloody murder, getting away becoming my top priority despite the grip the teachers had on my arms. Stabbing pain sliced through me when their grip only increased.

"Can't you see him?!" I shouted, tears no doubt pouring down my face. "He's right there! Arceus, he's right there! Please, please, please, please, _please _get him away from me! Get him away!" The wouldn't listen, no one would listen. They held me in place while the burned man in front of me continued to taunt me mercilessly. I was crying and screaming and I have now idea what I was saying, but I knew I just wanted the custodian away, as far away as I could get.

Finally, two men in uniforms rushed in. One helped the teachers restrain me while another moved behind me, out of my sight. Fingers tightened on my forearm. Then a needle prick, and ice slid through my veins. The room started to sway. The custodian blinking in and out of my vision.

"No!" he yelled. "I need to speak to her! Don't you understand? She can hear me. I only want to..." his words drifted away as I was laid on a stretcher, picked up, swaying... swaying... like on a Lapras. I'd rode one once, with my Dad, on his Lapras, at the ocean... "No!" the custodians howl of rage cut through my memory. "Don't take her away! I need her!"

Swaying... on the ocean... Lapras with Dad... swaying... swaying... swaying...

o.0.o.0.o

**Damn, I'm tired... 2:40 in the morning... Ugh...**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	3. Lyle House

**Thanks for the reviews, everyone!**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or the overall plot of this story, which belongs respectively to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_Lyle House_

o.0.o.0.o

I sat on the edge of my hospital bed and tried to persuade myself that I was still asleep. That the best explanation for what I was hearing. I could also chalk it up to delusional, but I really do prefer dreaming.

My mother sat beside me, shocker here, holding my hand. My eyes avoided her eyes, the same crystalline shade of blue as my own, instead going to the nurse that glided past us, down the corridor, and kept on going. Through a glaze of tears, I watched her as she got up, and shut the door. As she turned around, I realized she had the same look on her face when Dad died: terrified, hopeless, and utterly confused. Something inside me crumbled, and like that, I was six years old again, huddled on the bed, crying for my father.

As I rubbed my hands on the covers, stiff and scratchy, my mom encircled me in a comfortable hug, one that I had not received in a long time. I just cried even harder, and from the warm drops I felt land on my head, I knew she was crying, silently, as well. The room was to damn hot and every scratchy gasp I took made my parched throat tighten. Mom handed me a glass of water and I wrapped my hands around the cool glass. It had a somewhat metallic taste(you'd think in a hospital they'd purify the water), but I gulped it down anyways. It didn't help much-my throat was still screaming for water, lips parched, and a headache coming on from dehydration-but somehow the cool liquid running down my throat made everything slightly better.

"A group home," I finally managed. The plain, beige, ugly walls seemed to such the words from my mouth, almost as if they would suddenly appear on the walls and make them look slightly more appealing.

"Oh, Arceus, Dawn," my mother pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her nose. "I-I am such a terrible mother. Maybe... Maybe if I was there for you more, if you had a solid parent figure in your life, roots touched down in one town instead of moving all the time, this wouldn't have happened."

I made no point to deny it. It was true. Pick up and leave, every other month, and then I convince her to let me stay, it was dump and run. Half the time, I barely even got a Happy Birthday. Sometimes, I wonder if she even knows when my birthday was.

"Listen, baby, I know how much you want to travel the world and win ribbons in contests after you graduate. I get it. But this... this is the only way we're going to get you there, hon.

"Was it you?" I demanded, suddenly becoming very angry. She already knows I'm pissed off with her as it is, but I swear if she's the one who's forcing me into a group home, I will sever all ties with her and never talk to her again. I _know _I'm not crazy.

"No," she said finally, pain ringing in her voice. "It's the school. Unless you spend four weeks undergoing evaluation in a group home, it will go on your record."

"What will go on my record?" she paused, as if she didn't want to tell me. "_Mother," _I spat, venom dripping from my voice. "What will go on my record?" Her fist clenched around a tissue, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"It's that da-" she caught herself, and then spoke again. "It's the zero-tolerance policy."

"Zero tolerance? What do you mean _zero tolerance? _Are they talking about violence? But I didn't fu-"

"Dawn!" he voice sliced through the curses I was about to exclaim. "I know you didn't. But to them, it's simple. You struggled with a teacher. You need help."

Help. In a group home. For crazy kids.

o.0.o.0.o

No one would say what was wrong with me. They had me talk to a bunch of doctors and they ran a bunch of tests. I could tell they had a good idea what was wrong with me, but just wouldn't say it. That meant it was bad.

"When can I see my pokémon?" I asked after the first two days in the hospital. The nurse looked at me for a long time, before she finally spoke.

"Due to your condition, all your pokémon are under custody of you mother until you get to Lyle House." she said, and then quickly walked out the door.

After that I leaned my head back onto the bed and cried. I needed Piplip right now. Piplup, Bunneary, Pachirisu, Quilava, Togekiss, and Mamoswime right now. I needed someone who would look at me and cry with me but still see me: Dawn Berlitz, the girl who knows she still had her sanity tucked under her belt.

This wasn't the first time I'd seen people who weren't really there, though. After this, my Mom remembered how I used to talk about people in our old basement. My parents figured that it was my imagination going into overdrive, creating a whole cast of characters and friends to play with. Then those friends started terrifying me, so much that we'd moved.

Even after that, I'd sometimes 'see' people, so my dad bought me an amethyst necklace and said that it would protect me. Mom said it was all about psychology. I'd believed it worked, so it had. But now it was happening again. And this time, no one was chalking it up as an overactive imagination.

They were sending me to a home for crazy kids. I'm not crazy. I don't feel crazy, I know I don't look crazy. But they think I'm crazy, and that's all that matters. I know it was lack of sleep. It just had to be lack of sleep, so bad that my brain misfired and tricked me into thinking the hallucinations were real. If I was crazy, I'd be doing more than seeing and hearing people who weren't there. I'd be acting crazy, and I wasn't.

Was I?

The more I thought about it, the more I wasn't sure. I felt normal. I couldn't remember doing anything weird, minus fighting against a teacher, and that shouldn't even count considering that I had Custodian McMelty taunting me and I was trying to get away from _him, _not trying to hurt anyone. Before that, I was fine. My friends thought I was fine. My pokémon thought I was fine. Mr. Bertly thought I was fine when he listed me as number one of the top five coordinators in the school. Kenny obviously thought I was fine. I mean, who would let a crazy girl ride with them to and from school everyday?

I knew my pokémon thought I was great. But Kenny had to be fine with me. Right?

But... If I was crazy, wouldn't I know it? That's how it works in all the books and movies, that's what being crazy was, wasn't it? You thought you were fine. But everyone, _everyone, _else knew better.

Maybe I was crazy.

o.0.o.0.o

My Mother and Andrea drove me to Lyle house on Sunday afternoon. First thing I remembered was holding Piplup in my arms. My mom graciously gave me my pokéballs before I got in the car, and I automatically released him, crying and joyful to finally be able to hold the little blue penguin again. After I had my Piplup once again, doctors gave me some sort of medicine and it made me sleepy. The arrival was a rush of shots and clips.

A huge white Victorian house perched on an oversized lot. Blue trim, a swing on the wraparound porch. Two women. The first, gray hair and wide hipped, coming forward to greet me. The younger one's dour eyes following me, her arms crossed, braced for any hallucinated trouble I may cause. Walking up a long flight of stairs, the older woman-a nurse, who introduced herself as Mrs. Talbot- chirping a guided tour that my fuzzy brain couldn't follow.

Suddenly, I was in a bedroom, white and pink, decorated with daisies, smelling of... Glameow fur? On the far side of the room, a twin bed with a quilt yanked over the bunched-up sheets. I noticed a pile of laundry tossed in one corner of the room, and sunglasses. Tons of different sunglasses piled neatly, unlike the laundry unceremoniously in the corner, on the dresser. Only a tiny desk was bare. The other side of the room was a mirror image: same bed, same dresser, same tiny desk, all wiped clean of personality.

Time for Mom and Aundrea to go. Mrs. Talbot explained I couldn't see them for a couple of days because I needed time to 'acclimate' to my new 'environment'. Like a pokémon in a new home. Yay.

I hugged my mom awkwardly, pretending not to see tears in her eyes. As she pressed a roll of twenties into my hand, Andrea let out a huff basically saying 'I have better things to do then stand here and submit this kid to a crazy home'. Don't worry Andrea, I won't miss you at all. We're in the same boat.

Mrs. Talbot telling me they'd put my things away, since I was probably tired. Just crawl into bed. The blind closing. Room going dark. Falling back to sleep.

My mother's voice waking me. Room completely dark and empty, and it was black outside. Nighttime... the moon... Mom silhouetted in the doorway, the younger nurse, Miss Van Curd, was behind her, face set in disapproval. It was then I decided to call her Miss Van Turd. Hahaha... Mom came up to me, pressing two things, one soft, the other cold and smooth.

"We forgot Pip and your pendant. I know how much you love that pendant, and I wasn't sure you'd sleep without Pip." The Piplip plush that I've had since forever, banished to my shelf about four years back when I got a real Piplup to replace the stuffed animal. But I took Pip the Piplup, vaguely aware that my mom set my amethyst pendant on my nightstand, and snuggled into the still plush blue velvet, and smelled home.

Again, I cried myself to sleep.

o.0.o.0.o

The time on my digital clock said 7:50. I stared at it for a moment, then turned on my back. Unknowingly to my self until I tasted the saltiness on my lips, I was crying, yet my face burned hotter than my tears. It's not homesickness, and it's not rage anymore. Shame. Embarrassment. Humiliation. I'd scared my Mom. She had to scramble to figure out what to do with me and how to fix it. And school...

My cheeks burned even hotter. How many kids had hear me screaming? Peeked in that classroom while I was fighting the teachers and screamed about being chased by Custodian McMelty. Seen me being taking away conked out cold and strapped to a stretcher. Anybody who missed the drama would've heard about it. Everyone would know Dawn Berlitz lost it. She was nuts, crazy, and locked away with the rest of the loonies. Forget about being Dawn Berlitz the new girl, I'm Dawn Berlitz, the crazy kid who just snapped. Even if they let me return to school, I don't think I'd have the guts to go back.

My thoughts were cut off by the clink-clink of hangers. A girl with short, fiery red hair was flipping through clothing that I was pretty sure were mine, hung up yesterday by Mrs. Talbot. I stared at her for a few moments. What was wrong with her? If she was at Lyle House, there was something wrong with her. Some 'mental condition'. She turned towards me, and smiled.

"Nice stuff." she said. "Good labels."

"Uh, thanks." I said. "I'm Dawn."

"Zoey." she answered. She continued talking about something, but I was to busy trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She didn't look any more insane than me, despite my swollen eyes from crying. Her fiery red hair was short, didn't even reach her chin, but spiked up slightly in a very tomboyish way. Sunglasses were perched on the crest of her bangs, and she was wearing a maroon long sleeved shirt with an orange jacket-vest over it and jeans with brown hiking boots. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I woke up in a boarding school. A Glameow came out from behind her and rubbed against her leg affectionately. She seemed harmless. She'd have to be, wouldn't she? They wouldn't put anyone dangerous here. Or _really _crazy.

Oh, no, Dawn, not the _really _crazy people. Just the ones who hear voices and see burned up janitors and imagine boys jumping in front of cars and sobbing girls and fight with teachers. Get real, Dawn.

"C'mon," Zoey said. "Breakfast's in five minutes and Miss. Van Turd gets real snippy if you're late."

"You're not the only one who thought up that nickname?" I asked with a low chuckle as I began to run a comb through my hair. Zoey raised an eyebrow.

"I like you already." she glanced at me while I tried to choose an outfit. "You can wear your PJs down. Practically everyone does, minus Ursula. She's such a suckup. But if you're worried about your appearance in front of the guys, don't. They eat breakfast later, so we get some form of privacy."

"Guys?" I asked, looking up from a pair of jeans I planned on wearing.

"Yeah, Paul, Jimmy, and Onyx."

"This place is coed?"

"Yup." she placed a hand on her hip, tapping her foot impatiently. Maybe this was a sign of her 'mental condition'? "We all share the bottom floor, but the top floor with the bedrooms are divided." I walked over to wear she was standing, and saw how short the hall was. "They get the other side. There's not even a joining door. Like we'd sneak over if we could." she rolled her eyes at this, then smirked. "Well, Ursula would. And I might, if there was someone worth sneaking over for. Oh, and FYI, Ursula has dibs on Paul." she paused, as if waging my reaction before going towards the stairs, me in my pajamas following her. "You might like Onyx, though. He's really witty, but a troublemaker. Real smart jokester, that one is. As for Jimmy, he has his eyes set on Marina-"

"Marina?" I asked.

"You'll meet her soon," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Where are my pokémon?" I finally asked.

"Miss Van Turd has them." Zoey said. "She takes them and 'analyzes the love they have for their trainer'." she shrugged at my questioning glance. "I don't know either, but that's the way things work around here."

At the bottom of the stairs, the overpowering stink of lemon cleaner hit me. It smelled like Gran's house. Even Mom never seemed comfortable around her mother's immaculate house, under the glare that said you'd better not expect any birthday money if you spilled your soda on the white leather sofa. One look in this living room, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It may be as clean as Gran's-a spotless carpet and gleaming wood- but it had a worn comfortable look that invited you to curl up on the sofa.

It also seemed to be painted another one of those bright easter colors, this time yellow. Pillows covered the dark blue sofa and two rocking chairs. An old grandfather clock ticked in the corner. Every end table had a vase of daisies or dafodils. Bright and cheerful. Too bright and cheerful, really. Like a bed-and-breakfast that I stayed at with my mom in Solaceon Town-so desperate to be homey that it seemed more staged than someone's house. No different than this, I guess. A business eager to convince you it _wasn't _a buisness, to make you feel at home. To make you forget you were in a place for crazy kids.

Zoey barged into the dining room like it was no one's business while I hung behind, taking in the three other girls in the room. The first girl was fully dressed in a frilly dress with pink corkscrew pigtails. From Zoey's description, I figured this was Ursula. She said she was moody, and that's why she was here. The next girl had gravity-defying blue pigtails, whom I supposed was Marina, and the final girl had palish blond hair, an Eevee on her lap, and an Espeon at her feet. I did not know her name. Zoey sat down at the end of the table while I stared at the other three girls. I sat across from her, desperate for information on my new roommates.

"Everyone, this is Dawn, Dawn, this is everyone." Zoey announced loudly. Ursula cast me a glance, sneered, and turned her head away. Marina jumped up to come sit by us, and began chattering about dancing. I liked this girl. The blond girl didn't even lift her head, but her Espeon did, staring at me for a good two minutes before laying back down.

"So that's what she looks like..." blond girl mumbled under her breath, running her hand across her Eevee's head. Okay. So I'm in a house with a snot, a tomboy, a chatterbox, and a creepy girl who won't even look at me. Plus three boys whom I had yet to meet.

This next month was just going to be wonderful.

o.0.o.0.o

**Hope you enjoyed! More of a filler chapter than anything... XD**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	4. Adjusting to Life as a Crazy Kid

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or most of this story, which belongs respectively to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_Adjusting to Life as a Crazy Kid_

o.0.o.0.o

Before breakfast, Miss Van Turd gave us all pills, then watched as we took them. It was creepy to me, but seemed utterly normal to everyone else. No one said a word, just held out their hands, gulped down their pill with some water, and returned to their conversation. When I stared at mine, Miss Van Turd said the doctor would explain everything later, but for now, I should just take it.

So I did.

After we'd eaten, we trooped upstair to get dressed. Marina bounded up the stairs, followed by the blond girl, Ursula, Zoey, and then me. I blinked as the blond girls Eevee jumped down to the bottom step and began barking up each stair while its trainer followed. She kept her eyes downward, though, refusing to look at me.

"Jade?" Ursula called. The blond girls shoulders stiffened, but she didn't turn. Slowly, she reached into her pocket, pulled out a pokéball, and returned the Espeon.

"Yes, Ursula?" Jade asked coldly.

"You clumsily spilled your drink on my shirt I'm wearing now. Do you know where my blue shirt is?"

"How the hell would I know?" Jade asked with a scoff. "I'm fucking blind." I glanced at this girl once again. Pale blond hair that reached her mid back, side bangs over her right eye, hair framing her face. A few freckles were splattered across her nose, and her eyes, a lovely jade green that made me slightly envious, were misted over, unfocused. Unseeing. Although her hair was uncombed and sticking up in a few places, something about Jade, from the cold set features on her face to the way she defiantly and confidently stood tall, screamed authority and demanded respect.

"Oh, sorry. Forgot." Ursula said with a shrug. "How about the laundry? Did you do the laundry?"

"No." Jade said, shoving past them and into her room, Eevee close behind her. I glanced at Zoey as we stepped into our room. Ursula shot a look over her shoulder and scowled, as if the fact that blind Jade had not seen her shirt or did her laundry was her fault. As she turned, something flashed between us, and I stumbled back, grabbing the railing. Her scowl twisted.

"Geez, I'm not going to hit you." Over her shoulder, a hand appeared, pale and white(**A/N: HOLY SHIT, IT'S THE WHITE HAND! XD**), fingers wiggling like worms.

"Dawn?" Zoey asked.

"I-I-I-" I peeled my gaze away from the disembodied hand. "I t-tripped."

"Listen-girl-" A mans voice whispered in my ear. Marina peeked out of her room, dressed in a pink tank top and biker shorts, and came down the steps.

"You okay?" the blue haired girl asked. "You're all white."

"I j-j-just thought I h-h-heard something."

"Why is she talking like that?" Ursula asked, peering down at me from the top of the stairs. "Are you slow?"

"What?" I asked, insulted by her assumption.

"You know, do you ride the loooong bus," she pulled her hands apart, then brought them together again. "Or the short one?" Marina gaped at her.

"Ursula, that's not-"

"Well she talks like a kid, so..." Ursula trailed off, gazing at me, making all sorts of assumptions, I knew.

"I have a speech impediment." I said clearly, making sure to pronounce every word correctly without a single mishap. Who's the slow one now? "I'm close to overcoming it."

"Could've fooled me." Ursula said with a sneer as Jade came out, dressed in a black T-shirt with a white and gray zip up vest over it. Her pants appeared to be black leggings with knee-high turquoise socks and converses that reached her mid calve. Dark green gloves were on her hand, and to top it off, pilots goggles on her head like a headband, yet didn't seem to serve for holding her bangs or hair out of her face.

"I like your outfit." I blurted to her. Jade froze, her back to me. "It's, um, nice. The goggles give it a nice steampunk twist." a heavy silence, then Jade walked down the stairs, hand holding the railing while her Eevee guided her back down the stairs, completely ignoring my compliment. I huffed, biting back insults while the blind girl turned the corner. "How rude." I muttered.

"Schizotypal Personality Disorder." another voice said nonchalantly with a shrug. I raised an eyebrow at the fact that the voice was male. "Basically, it means she's _really _uncomfortable in social situations, and can't make close relationships, so she just doesn't."

I whirled around to look at a boy about seventeen years old with chin length brown hair that stuck up in several places. He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, typical blue-jeans, and black sneakers. A silver chain was attached to his belt loops, six shrunken pokéballs dangling from it. On his hands were black fingerless gloves, and he was pulling on a vest such a pale blue that it was almost white. Adjusting it, he smirked, onyx black eyes shining playfully.

"Onyx!" Zoey hissed. "You know you shouldn't be over here." Onyx shrugged.

"So what?" he said. I coughed awkwardly, and changed the topic.

"That doesn't sound so bad..." I said, bringing up Jades 'disorder' again while stepping into the walk-in closet for some privacy.

"That's what I thought." I heard Onyx say. "Apparently it's super rare, too. Like, less than three percent of people in Sinnoh are diagnosed with it, and males are more prone to be diagnosed then females."

"So a female with Schizotypal Personality Disorder isn't exactly something you see everyday." I concluded. "I still don't see why it's a huge problem to the point where she has to stay in a group home. So she doesn't like people. It's not like she's gonna hurt anyone."

"Again, what I initially thought. But I guess she made some sort of threat to a girl at her school, and they deemed her 'unfit for the public' and sent her here." Onyx paused. When I came out, smoothing out the wrinkles in my purple T-shirt, he seemed to be listening intently. "Ah, gotta run, ladies. Nurses will flip if they find me up here." and like that he was sneaking down the stairs.

"That was Onyx." Zoey said with an exasperated sigh. "He has a thing for fire." Fire itself or lighting things on fire? I thought this place was supposed to be safe! My mini internal panic attack subsided as Ms. Talbot knocked on the door, standing in the doorframe.

"Girls?" she asked sweetly, looking at Zoey. "Class is in ten minutes. Dawn," she turned her attention to me as I clasped my necklace around my neck. "We're still waiting for notes from your teachers, so you won't be in class today. When you finish getting yourself ready," she glanced at the strands of hair on my head that I knew still stuck up from my restless sleep. "We'll discuss your schedule."

o.0.o.0.o

Lyle House liked schedules the way boot camp likes discipline.

We awoke at 7:30. Ate, showered, dressed, and in class by 9:00, where we did independent work assigned by our regular teachers, supervised by the tutor, Ms. Wang. Break at 10:30 for a snack, nutritious, of course, and then back to class. Break for lunch at noon. Back to class from 1:00 until 4:30 with a twenty minute break at 2:30. At some point during classes- the timing would vary- we'd have our hour long therapy session with Dr. Gill. My first would be after lunch today. From 4:30 to 6:00 we had free time... sorta. In addition to classes and therapy, we had chores. A lot from the looks of the list, or, _lists, _if you counted the brail copy for Jade. Somehow, though, I figured that with that Espeon of hers, the brail copy would be left unread.

Anyways, these had to be done during our free time before and after dinner. Plus we had to squeeze in thirty minutes of physical activity everyday, which included battling or practicing coordinating combinations with our pokémon, whom I've realized I haven't seen since I came here. Then after a snack, it was off to bed at 9:00 and lights-out at 10:00.

Nutritious snacks? Therapy sessions? Chore lists? Nine o'clock bedtime? Boot camp was starting to look good.

I didn't belong here. I really didn't.

o.0.o.0.o

After our talk, a phone call sent Mrs. Talbot scurrying off, calling back glorious promises to return with my job list. Joy to the effing world.

I sat back in the living room, trying to think, but the unrelenting cheerfulness was like a bright light shining in my eyes. It made it hard to concentrate. A few more days of easter colored paint and daisies, I'd turn into a happy zombie or a rebel against everything, like Marina and Zoey, respectively.

I felt a pang of shame. Both made me feel welcome and chatted up contests with me, which I learned both had an interest in, though Marina was more of a dancer than coordinator. Marina was even quick to defend me against Ursula, who, I assumed, had an iron grip on all the girls in this place minus Jade, who didn't particularly give a fuck about anything or anyone around her. If being cheerful, rebellious, and just not caring were forms of some mental illness, they weren't such bad one's to have. _Way _better than seeing Custodian McMelty.

I rubbed the back of my neck and closed my eyes with a sigh.

Lyle House wasn't so bad, really. Better than padded rooms and endless hallways filled with _real _zombies. Shambling mental patients so doped up they couldn't be bothered to get dressed, much less bathe. Maybe it was the illusion of the home that bothered me. Maybe, in some way, I'd be happier with ugly couches and white walls and bars on windows. Then there would be no false promises. Yet... Just because I couldn't see any bars didn't mean it was as open as it seemed. It couldn't be.

I walked towards the front window. Closed, despite the sunny day and warm spring breezes. There was a hole where there'd probably been a latch for opening it. I looked out into the real, civilian world. Lots of trees, a quiet, suburban street, more oldish houses on big lots. No electric fences. No sign on the lawn proclaiming 'LYLE HOUSE FOR CRAZY KIDS'. All very ordinary. _To _ordinary. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I grabbed that cheery little rocking chair over there and smashed the window, and alarm would sound.

So where was the alarm?

I stepped into the hall, glanced at the front door, and saw it, blinking away, green meaning safe, all crazy kids locked away. It was a reminder, I knew. This might look like your house, kiddies, but don't try walking out the front door.

What about the back?

I went into the dining room and looked out the window. A large yard with as many trees as the front. There was a shed, lawn chairs, and gardens growing vegetables and fruits. There was a soccer ball and a basketball, along with a dirt battlefield, indicating that, yes, we were allowed out for those 'thirty minutes of physical activity'. Was it monitored? I couldn't see any cameras, but there were more than enough windows for the nurses to keep an eye on anyone in the yard. And the seven foot high fence was a good deterrent...

"Looking for a way out?"

I spun to see Miss Van Tu-ahem- _Curd. _Her eyes glittered with what seemed like pitiful amusement, but her face solemn, stoic. Almost like she was saying '_Oh, you pathetic excuse for child, can't you see? There's no way we're letting the kids of the looney bin run loose in the streets. At least, not on my watch.'_

"N-No. I w-was just looking around." Damn you stutter! "Um, this morning when I woke up, I realized I didn't have my pokémon. Where are they and when will I get them again?" Miss Van Curd responded by taking out my six shrunken pokéballs out of my pocket and placing them on the dining room table. In other words, nice try on the distraction, but I've got you beat, Miss Berlitz. She pulled out a dining room chair and motioned for me to sit. I did.

"I'm sure you saw the security system on the front door," she said.

"I-I wasn't-"

"Trying to escape, I know." a smile touched her lips. "Most of our residents aren't the sort of teenagers who run away from home, unless it's to make a statement. They're bright enough to know that whatever is out there is worse than what's in here. And what's in here isn't so bad. It's not the Nimbassa City Theme Park, but not prison either. The only escape attempts we've ever had are from kids trying to sneak out to meet friends. Hardly serious, but parents expect better security from us. We pride ourselves on providing a homelike environment, so I believe," she stood up, pushing her chair in. "That it's important to point out the limits early."

I nodded numbly in response, staring at Piplups pokéball. He was shaking it back and forth, desperate to get from the confined space and back into my arms.

"The windows are armed with sirens, as are the exterior doors. You are allowed out back only, and while able to have all your pokéballs on you," she tapped her finger against the table. "You are only allowed one pokémon out at a time, preferably a small one that you are able to carry in your arms." I looked up at this.

"But Jade-"

"Has her Espeon and her Eevee, I know." Miss Van Curd said. "Both work to help her overcome her disability, Espeon by providing sight via telepathy and Eevee by providing sounds." she continued on, ending my argument. "Because of the alarm, you must notify us if you want to go outside so we can disable it and, yes, watch you. If you have any questions about what you can and cannot do, come to me. I won'y sugarcoat it Dawn. I believe honesty is the first step in establishing trust, and trust is critical in a place like this."

Again her gaze pierced mine, probing, making sure I understood both sides of this statement. Honesty went both ways, and I was expected to keep up my end. The other side: Escaping from here is about as futile as a pokémon escaping an Ariados' web. I nodded. She stood for a moment longer, and then walked out of the room, leaving me with my six pokéballs. Slowly, I reached out and let out Piplup, who leapt into my arms out of joy.

I just held him tightly as I mulled over the warning I had just received.

o.0.o.0.o

Mrs. Talbot sent me to peel carrots for lunch. I didn't dare tell her I never peeled one before in my life, especially in front of Ursula, who seemed to suck up to that lady as much as a Combee does to honey. After hacking my thumb, I finally got the hang of it.

As I peeled, my mind wandered. Wandered into places I'd rather not visit. So I called in my best defense: Turn it into an idea for coordinating combinations. Perhaps a ghost type? Maybe I could use Bunneary to create an enchantingly beautiful but creepily empty ice sculpture using ice beam. Or maybe I could convince Jade to let me use her Espeon to shatter the sculpture in a flash of psychic energy...?

"Peeling duty already? What'd you do to deserve that?" this time when I whirled around, I didn't see any disembodied limbs but a whole body. A guy, in fact, close to my age and a bit taller than me. He had an explosion of black hair shoved under a backwards cap and navy eyes. He wore a red sweatshirt, hands tucked lazily in the pockets, and yellow cargo shorts with sneakers. He tilted his head to the side. "You must be Dawn, right?"

He reached out and I jumped back. The carrot leapt from my hand and bounced off his arm. A real arm. Attached to a real guy.

"I-I-" he put his fingers to his lips, and I was more than happy to fall silent. He pointed at the dining room door with a smirk. Beyond it, Mrs. Talbot was talking to Marina.

"I'm not supposed to be in here," he whispered. "I'm Jimmy, by the way."

Jimmy, as in, the guy who really didn't have any problems, at least, according to Marina. But, lets face it, I'm in a group home and he's here mainly because there _is _a problem. I was suddenly aware that he was standing between me and the exit. His smile was friendly, and I knew that Marina was head-over-heels for him-Fabulance!- whereas Zoey described him as 'A cool guy'. But being fabulance and a cool guy is not very reassuring when you're cornered in a group home.

He backed into the walk-in pantry, lifted a finger telling me to wait, and disappeared inside. I could hear him rooting around in the shelves. When I peeked in, he was taking down a box of graham crackers. A kitchen raid? I couldn't help but smile. Guess it didn't matter if it was a group home or summer camp, guys and their stomachs didn't change. Jimmy pulled out a sleeve and shoved it in his sweatshirt pocket, easily concealed by the bagginess of the shirt.

"The other one's already open," I whispered, pointing at it. Jimmy flashed a grin.

"Thanks, but he'll want the whole thing. Right, Paul?"

I followed my gaze over my shoulder and nearly let out a small yelp. The guy standing behind me towered over me, and I would not classify my five-foot-six height as being short. This guy, though, was bordering six feet tall, and not gangly tall, but we're talking _big, _tall. As in, muscular, big. Purple hair hung in to his shoulders, lank and dull, while Onyx black eyes stared me down.

"I-I-I-" I swallowed. "I didn't see you there." Completely ignoring me, he reached past my shoulder and took another sleeve of graham crackers from Jimmy. He turned to retreat, but Jimmy grabbed the back of his shirt.

"We're still teaching him manners," he said to me. "Paul, Dawn. Dawn, this is the final houseguest, Paul." Paul shot him a glare.

"It's not that I don't have manners, I don't see the point in using them on Troublesome." Paul grunted, voice deep and gruff. I opened my mouth to retort his statement. Me? Troublesome? Ridiculous! Piplup agreed with me, placing its flippers on it's hips in pose much like my own. He turned back to Jimmy. "We done here?"

"Paul?" Ursula's voice echoed down the hallway. Paul let out a low grumble, and glanced at the kitchen door leading outback, as if he was considering breaking it open and running away from corkscrew head. I wouldn't be surprised if he could do it.

To late, I thought as she walked through the door, a charming smile on her face.

"Aha. I thought I heard you." she said as she came into the room. "You and Jimmy and Onyx, always raiding the-" she spotted me and her eyes narrowed.

"Ursula." Paul grunted. Her expression flipped from simmering to simpering.

"Yes?" Paul jabbed his finger towards the dining room door.

"Shut the hell up." he said gruffly, taking out a graham cracker and taking a bit off it. As she babble apologies, I swear I even saw tears, I made my escape.

o.0.o.0.o

**Done and done! Thanks for the reviews!**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	5. Secret's Out

**Thank you for the reviews!**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or the original plot for this story, which belongs respectively to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_Secret's Out_

o.0.o.0.o

After I finished the carrots, Mrs. Talbot said I could have free time until lunch and directed me to the media room. If I was hoping for a flat screen TV with surround sound and a top-of-the-line computer, I was completely out of luck. There was a two foot box TV, a cheep DVD/VCR combo. One flip through the movie collection and I knew I wouldn't be spending much time here. Unless, you know, I was suddenly nostalgic for the Olsen Twins. The only movie rated above PG was _Jurassic Park, _and it was labeled 'Please ask before viewing'. What did I have to do to watch it? Flash my trainer ID to prove I was over thirteen?

I glanced around and saw an oldish Xbox and a rather new Wii U system. I flipped through the games and smiled as I came across Just Dance and Sing Party. Totally Marina. Had to be. The computer was just sad. A huge box and PC that had to at least be from the 90's.

I let out a sigh, and walked up to the computer, turning it on. It took five minutes to boot up. Windows 98. I spent another five minutes trying to remember how to use Windows. We had Macs at school, and my mom insisted on getting me the most recent in computer technology. Letting out a growl of irritation, I searched for a browser, hoping for FireDelphox, but wasn't getting anything better than plain old IE.

I typed in a URL, and held my breath, expecting to get a 'cannot connect to Internet message'. Instead, the page popped up. I let out a victory squeal. Guess we weren't as cut off from the outside world as I originally feared. I flipped through my favorite sites, killing time until I worked up the nerve to check my in-box. A few minutes of checking the weekend sales cleared my mind, then I typed in the URL to access my Gmail account.

The browser chugged away for a minute, then brought up a 'page cannot be displayed' message. I tried MSN. Same thing.

"What the...?"

"Dawn? There you are." I turned as Mrs. Talbot walked in.

"I wanted to check my e-mail," I gestured towards the screen. "But I keep getting this." She walked over, glanced at the screen, and sighed.

"It's that Net Nanny software or whatever they use. It does more than block some websites, I'm afraid. You can send and receive e-mail through our account. You need to use the e-mail program that came with the computer, and get Miss Van Curd to type the password so you can send it. A pain, I know, but we had a problem last year with a young man accessing sites he shouldn't have. When the board of doctors found out..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "We're punishing everyone for one bad apple, I'm afraid." she put a motherly hand on my shoulder. "Come on, now. It's time for lunch."

o.0.o.0.o

Jade wanted to sit alone, I knew, but as soon as Miss Van Turd saw this, she quickly stopped the girl, and steered her towards a seat near Marina and myself.

"Jade, you've met Dawn, right? She's studying to be a coordinator as well." she smiled patting Jade on the shoulder, and then walked away. Jade inclined her head, scowled, and looked down. She looked like she would much rather eat a dead rattata than sit around us.

Like everything else at Lyle House, lunch was very normal. Too normal. Everytime someone moved, I tensed, waiting for him or her to start speaking in tongues or screaming about bugs crawling over their plate. No one did.

The food was decent enough. Homemade spinach lasagna, healthy, I was sure, like the water and whole wheat rolls we had to go with it. For dessert, we'd been promised Jell-O. Oh joy.

The clattering of forks and knives along with talks of battles between Onyx and Jimmy. Marina and Ursula twittered together, to low for me to join in. Paul was to busy ignoring everyone else to talk, and Zoey was a no-show.

"Curd said you were a coordinator." Jade said, glancing up from her food.

"Uh, yeah." I responded. Jade nodded.

"Cool. Me too." She stabbed a piece of her lasagna with her fork and stuck it in her mouth, chewing slowly.

"I don't see how you boost your self esteem with coordinating." Ursula said snidely. "You can't even _see _the performances you put on. How can you have so much confidence?" Jade chewed her food slowly, and swallowed.

"Well," she said. "I suppose that's why I have Esmeralda."

"Esmeralda?" I asked.

"Her Espeon!" Marina said with a wink. "She trained it to see for her via telepathy!" My mouth went into an 'o' shape.

"That's amazing!" I exclaimed.

"What school you come from?"

"Twinleaf High." Dawn responded. Jade scrunched her eyebrows together.

"Mr. Buttly? Arceus, he was an ass."

"You went there?" I exclaimed, remembering the hilarious nickname.

"Momentarily. Jumped from place to place, town to town. Only a couple of months." she shrugged.

"_Public school," _Ursula said, butting into our conversation. "Isn't that _fascinating. _Tell me, Dawn, what did you study for extracurriculars? What clubs did you join? Ghost photography? Paranormal Research Society?"

I choked on a chunk of cheese.

"Oh," Ursula turned her eyes to Paul. "Didn't Dawn tell you why she's here? She sees dead people."

"Really?" Onyx asked, lifting his head. "Cool." When I looked up, Pauls fork was stopped halfway to his mouth, black eyes piercing mine as he stared at me. His lip curled, as if to say _What kind of freak sees ghosts?_

"It's not like that. I-I-I-I-"

"There she goes." Ursula let out a dramatic sigh. "Marina, slap her back. See if you can restart her." Paul turned his head and glared.

"Shut up and stop being such a bitch." he said. Ursula froze, mouth open, a still shot of humiliated horror. Paul returned to his lunch.

"I didn't mean it that way," Ursula said, words tumbling out. "Like Onyx said, it's kinda cool. If she does see ghosts, maybe she can help Zoey with her, you know, poltergeist."

Suddenly, a spoon flew across the room and pelted Ursula in the forehead. Ursula let out shriek of shock while Zoey, who had just walked in, turned abruptly on her heel and walked out of the room. I could see her eyes filling, which surprised me, since she seemed like such a strong girl. Obviously, this poltergeist thing was something she didn't want anyone to know, but now everyone knew. Marina jumped up after Zoey, and Jimmy after Marina. Paul grabbed Ursula's glass before she sent it flying, while Onyx took advantage of the chaos to scoop up the last of the lasagna. Jade just finished the rest of her food like nothing was wrong.

The kitchen door flew open and Mrs. Talbot appeared, but her words were beat back by the cacophony. Paul got up and left the room.

"Last call for laundry!" Onyx said as he called, reaching for Jades arm and dragging her up from her seat. Once up, she wrenched her arm away, and walked out the door on her own while tried to console a now sobbing Ursula. Onyx turned to me. 'Come on'. He mouthed.

I didn't hesitate to leave.

o.0.o.0.o

They knew. Everyone knew.

I was a freak. A crazy girl who saw ghosts. That I _did _belonged here.

Lunch turned in my stomach, and I felt as if I would loose it soon. I hurried up the stairs, thinking of my bed with its thin mattress that smelled of chemical vanilla, suddenly so inviting. Pulling the blinds down, curl up under the covers with my iPod, and try to forget-

"Can I help you, Dawn?" Two steps from the top, I turned and saw Miss Van Curd below.

"I-I was just going to lie down for a minute. My head hurts and-"

"Then come and get some Advil."

"I-I'm kinda tired. I don't have classes, so I thought-"

"Come down, Dawn." I stared at her for a moment. What would she do if I didn't? I saw Paul walk around the corner, hands in pockets. He raised a eyebrow, and scowled.

'_Just listen.' _he mouthed, before turning and walking away. Slowly, I came downstairs. She waited until I was at the bottom.

"At Lyle House, bedrooms are for sleeping." I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off. "I know you're probably tired and feeling overwhelmed, but you need activity and interaction, not isolation. Jade and Onyx are getting a head start on the laundry before afternoon classes. If you've finished lunch, you can go help them."

o.0.o.0.o

I braced myself as I opened the basement door, expecting a descent down creaky wooden steps into a dark, damp basement, the kind of place I hated. Instead, I saw gleaming stairs, the passage to a brightly lit room, walls painted light green with a flowery border. For the first time since I got here, I was overjoyed for the to-bright cheeriness.

"I swear, Onyx, you're going to get caught and then they're going to transfer you." I heard Jade said as I got to the bottom. "And I'm not going to feel sorry for you."

"_Please," _I heard Onyx say. I could almost imagine the eye roll from him. "You're wrong on both accounts. I've been doing this since I got here and never got caught. Secondly, you'd be so sad if I left. You _looove _me." Jade snorted.

"Yeah, right." Jade said sarcastically. I opened the door into the laundry room. It had a tile floor, an old recliner, a washer and dryer, and a bunch of cupboards and shelves. Zero 'old basement' factor. Jade was leaning against the dryer, arms crossed, her Eevee and Esmeralda the Espeon at her feet while the washer was running next to her. I didn't see Onyx anywhere. Esmeralda the Espeon looked up at me, so I avoided her gaze by I looking across the room. There was a door, and I made my way towards it. "He's not in there." Jade said suddenly. "It's locked."

"Ah, okay..." I mumbled. I picked up an acrid smell. Smoke? Was Onyx smoking down here? If he was, I wasn't going to be the one to catch him. I turned to leave, only to see Onyx crouched in the corner, staring at the flickering flame of a match as it ate up the wood, almost as if he was in a trance. I saw no cigarette. I heard Zoey's voice again: _He has a 'thing' for fire._

My reaction must've shown because Onyx jumped forward, getting between me and the door, hands flying up as he snuffed the match out on his palm. Yes, his palm.

"No, no, it's not like that, don't get the wrong idea. I wasn't going to do anything, I don't-"

"You're sinking you ship, Onyx, you've got her attention." Jade said, shutting her eyes with a huff. Onyx let out a long sigh, and rubbed the back of his neck, turning his head to the side to avoid my gaze.

"Listen, I don't start fires. They wouldn't let me stay here if I did. I just like fire. I think it's mystifying."

"Oh." He noticed me staring at the matchbook in his hand, and pocketed it.

"How you adjusting?"

"Everyone's cool." I said. "'Cept Ursula." I heard Jade snicker.

"Oh, you should see her around Jade." Onyx said.

"She's a bitch." Jade said. "If I had to, I'd eat lunch in the music room. Food is food, you know? Go in for second helpings, she gets her jabs in. You know that now, though."

"My advice? Steer clear of her." Onyx said with a shrug. "Her and Paul. She nearly ripped poor Jades head off when she challenged him to a battle."

"You probably ran into him while he and Jimmy was performing a kitchen raid." Jade shrugged.

"A kitchen raid?!" exclaimed Onyx. "Without me? How cruel." I snickered as fake anime tears ran down his cheeks.

"And that's why she was being a bitch to you this morning." Jade continued, ignoring Onyx.

"So you're a coordinator?" I asked as I helped her move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Onyx took another basket filled with the guys laundry, and began starting up the washer again.

"Coordinator, trainer, whatever I want to do, I guess." Jade shrugged. "Started battling to survive, began coordinating for fun."

"Survive?" I asked, widening my eyes. Jade said nothing, but set her lips into a firm line.

"What pokémon do you have?" Onyx asked. I smiled.

"Piplup," I nodded towards my partner, who came running over with soap held above his head. He passed it off to Onyx, and stood next to me again. "Buneary, Togekiss, Quilava, Mamoswine, and a Pachirusu."

"All very cute pokémon," Jade mused. "Except for maybe Mamoswine and Quilava. But you could take a twist on that, since everyone always assumes they would be used to show off toughness or coolness. You could wrack up some major points if you could make them look beautiful."

"That's what I'm working on~!" I sang out as I flashed the peace sign. "What about you? Pokémon wise?" Jade turned her head towards the door, and Onyx smirked.

"I'll guard for you. You always guard for me, right?" Onyx smirked, and Jade nodded, taking her Eevee from her shoulder and placing it on the ground.

"You know Esmeralda." she said, standing up and gathering up some pokéballs on her belt. She nodded towards the Eevee. "That's my trustworthy partner. Her name is Hope. And here," she tossed six more pokéballs into the air, and I watched in amazement as the other eeveelutions popped out. "Is the rest of my team. Valerie, Flash, and Ziya, triplets," she pointed to a Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon, who cried out their names respectively to their names. "Bre-Bre, Esmeralda's twin," she pointed to an Umbreon who cried out her name. "And then Lily and Grace." her hand moved to a Leafeon and Glaceon.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "So lets see if I got this right, Valerie the Vaporeon, Flash the Flareon, Ziya the Jolteon, Esmeralda the Esepeon, Bre-Bre the Umbreon, Lily the Leafeon, and Grace the Glaceon."

"And Hope the Eevee." Jade said. "All female.

"How'd you get away with having all eight on you at all times?" I asked as I reached out to pet Grace. She purred softly while her trainer shrugged.

"What the people don't know won't hurt them. Technically, I call myself an 'Eevee Collector' to get away with it." she shrugged, returning all of them minus Hope and Esmeralda. "If I had the choice, I wouldn't be in this hellhole, but rather searching through Kalos to add the newly discovered Slyveon to my little family."

As I stared at these two teenagers, I realized something. Earlier, I thought I didn't belong here because I didn't feel crazy. I bet none of them did either. Maybe mental illness was like stuttering. I'd spent half my life and more trying to convince people that just because I stammered didn't mean there was anything else wrong with me. I just had a problem I was working and close to overcoming.

Like seeing people who weren't there.

Like not wanting to form relationships with people.

Like being attracted to fire.

It didn't mean we were schizo or anything. The sooner I got over myself, found ways to work the system to my advantage like Jade and Onyx had, then I'd be better off in Lyle House. The sooner I'd get better, and get out.

"And done!" Onyx said. "Don't worry, Dawn. Like the bedrooms, clothes are coed as well."

"Um... okay." I said as he began climbing the stairs back up.

"Oh, and Jade," he turned around with a smirk. "Better hurry up. We don't need Miss Van Turd thinking we were doing anything _naughty _in our absence. Jade flipped him the bird, and he just laughed.

"What's your opinion?" Jade asked after a while.

"Huh?"

"Does it make sense to you? Putting a girl in a place like this because she doesn't like making relationships with people? Or putting a guy in here because he likes fire?"

"Well..."

"Onyx... is a good guy. He just loves the element, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. But he wouldn't ever hurt himself or anyone else with it."

"Do you like manga? Anime?" I asked. Jade shrugged at my out of the blue question.

"I can't see the manga since I've been blind for as long as I could remember. But I guess it's okay."

"I'm into it. Watch the shows, read the books, sometimes I even chat on the boards. But there was this girl I know," I paused for a moment. "She was completely into it. She spends almost all her money on books and DVDs. She can recite dialogue on them, and can give you a detailed description of every hint that's in a possible shipping. Do you think _she _belongs here?"

"Well, no. Most kids feel that way about something, right?" Jade responded. "I guess it's the same with me, only music. I could recite and play all the lyrics and tell you song meanings of every single song written by Simple Plan."

"So that doesn't necessarily make you crazy. Just crazy about music, or Simple Plan. Just like Onyx," I nodded towards the barely visible ashes in the corner. "And fire."

The door at the top of the stair clicked.

"Girls?" Mrs. Talbot called. "Are you still down there?" Her footsteps tapped down before we could answer. "Jade? Your classes are starting. Dawn-"

"I'll finish here, then come up." I called out. Mrs. Talbot left, and Jade nodded towards me.

"Contest battle later?"

"Anytime." I said with a determined nod. Jade smirked, then followed the nurse up the stairs. I was left alone in the basement.

"Girl..." A mans voice over my head. I stiffened but forced my feet to move towards the door. No one was here. Or, if someone was, he wasn't real. That's how I needed to handle it. Not jumped like a scorched meowth. Tough it out. Hear the voices, see the visions, and ignore them.

"...come here..." I paused. _Ignore, Dawn, IGNORE. _"...over here..." My hands started shaking. One look. One little peek won't hurt anybody, right? I glanced across the room. No one was there. I sighed, and turned to Piplup. He was staring intently into a corner. "...door...closed..."

Piplups head moved towards the door, and he began letting out a low growl. I looked in the direction of my pokémon. It was the one I'd noticed earlier, the one where I thought Onyx was smoking a cigarette. Proof it was nothing more than my overactive imagination.

Then what was Piplup growling at...?

"Open the door... something... show you..." Ha! Now there's a classic straight from a cheesy horror movie: _Just come behind the closed door, little girl. _I giggled at this, but the sound wavered, squeaking at the end. Piplup's growling became louder.

Get a grip. Toughen up or they'll never let you out.

My gaze stuck to the door, though. It looked like an ordinary closet. If I really believed the voice was in my head, then what was stopping me from opening it? I strode over to the door, knowing if I stopped, I'd loose my nerve.

"Good...come..." I grasped the doorknob, the metal cold under my fingers. "...open..." I turned the handle slowly. It went a quarter turn, then stopped. I jiggled it.

"Locked." my voice echoed in the laundry room. Jade was right. A locked door. My curiosity took over, and I jangled it again, then twisted sharply. The door didn't budge.

"Key... find... unlock..." I pressed my fingers to my temples.

"The door is locked and I'm going upstairs." I answered. I turned to walk away, only to here a strange jingling noise. Slowly, I turned, and saw the doorknob on the door, moving back and forth, like someone was jerking on it from the other side. Suddenly, there was a click, and the door creaked open. As quickly as it opened, though, it slammed shut.

I stared at it for a moment, suddenly finding myself shaking, and then whipped around to run, only to run smack into a wall of flesh, causing me to let out a yelp. I fell back, and felt strong and rough hands wrap around my arms, steadying me. I looked up at the same face that made me almost yelp the last time.

Paul let his hands drop from my arms, shoving them in his pockets when he was sure I was steady.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked.

"Myself." Yep. Totally don't sound crazy.

"Huh." he responded.

"Now if you'll excuse me..." When he didn't budge, I sidestepped to get around him. He moved into my path.

"You saw a ghost, didn't you?" he said. To my relief, I managed to laugh.

"Hate to break it to you, but there's no such thing as ghosts."

"Huh." His gaze traveled around the laundry room, like a cop searching for an escaped convict. When he turned his piercing look on me, its intensity sucked the backbone out of me. "What do you see, Troublesome?" Again with the troublesome nickname?! I swallowed.

"I-I-I-I don't s-s-s-"

"Slow down." he snapped his words, impatient. "What do they look like? Do they talk to you?"

"You really want to know?" He nodded his head with a grunt. I smirked in my head, and lifted onto my tiptoes. He bent down to listen. "They wear white sheets with big eye holes. And they say 'Boo!'" I glowered at him, settling back on my feet and crossing my arms. "Now get out of my way."

I expected him to sneer. To cross his arms and say, _Make me, little girl. _But no, his lips twitched slightly, and I steeled myself. He was smirking, pity in his eyes. I'm sure if he wasn't big bad Paul who had zero emotion, he'd laugh at me. Finally, he stepped aside.

I swept past him and up the stairs.

o.0.o.0.o

**Read, review, and stay tuned, everyone!**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	6. Welcome to the Madhouse

**Thanks for the reviews, everyone!**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or the overall plot, which belongs respectively to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_Welcome to the Madhouse_

o.0.o.0.o

Dr. Charon, I realized upon meeting him, was a stout man with a pointed nose and strange purple hair that reminded me somewhat of Pauls. Small red glasses sat on his nose, though his rattattalike eyes seemed to peer at me _over _them. Like I was the rattatta, whose every twitch had to be scribbled into his notebook.

I'd had therapists before. Two of them, after my Dad died. The first one was an old man with bad breath who'd close his eyes whenever I talked, almost like he was taking a nap. When I complained, i got a second one, Dr. Anna, a woman with bright red hair who would joke with me and reminded me of my Dad in a way. She helped me get on with my life.

After ten minutes with Dr. Charon, I knew he fell somewhere in the middle. He seemed nice enough, and intently paid attention to me as I spoke. True, he listened, but I knew he wasn't going to start cracking jokes anytime soon.

We talked about how I slept, how I was eating, and how I felt about the others. Finally, he dropped the bombshell question.

"Now, tell me Dawn, how do you feel about being here?" he asked. Now I wasn't stupid, even though many people thought I was for some reason. So I lied. If I wanted to get out, I couldn't moan that I didn't belong here or complain that someone made a horrible mistake.

"I believe," I stated calmly and strongly, brimming with confidence. "That my Mom made the right choice, putting me here. I want to get better, Dr. Charon, I really do, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to do just that." Piplup looked up at me skeptically, and I ignored him. _Don't screw this up on me Piplup! _I guess Dr. Charon didn't notice Piplip because his face relaxed, and I did a small happy dance inside.

"That is a very mature attitude. I'm glad to hear it." I nodded, trying to look sincere. "Now, Dawn, have you ever heard of schizophrenia?" My heart stopped.

"Sch-Schizophrenia?"

"Yes. Do you know anything about it?" My mouth opened and closed, brain refusing to fill it with words. "Dawn?"

"Y-You..." His words snapped my brain back to functioning properly. "You think I'm schizo?" His mouth tightened.

"We don't use that word, Dawn." he said as if I was a child who swore. "In fact, we prefer not to use labels at all. But a diagnosis is a necessary part of the process. A patient must know her condition, understand it, and accept it before we can begin treatment."

"B-But I just got here. How c-can you know already-"

"Do you remember at the hospital? The doctors you spoke to? The tests they ran?"

"They found schizophrenia?" I asked shakily. He shook his head, but I didn't like this. I didn't like this one bit.

"While scientists are working on a way to definitively diagnose schizophrenia, we don't have anything conclusive yet. Those tests, though, ruled out other possibilities, such as tumors or drug use. Taking those results and combining them with your symptoms, the most likely diagnosis is schizophrenia." I stared at the floor, refusing to meet his gaze.

"You think I have schizophrenia."

"Do you know what it is?" she spoke slowly, like she was starting to question my intelligence.

"I've seen _Of a Different Mind." _I said, remembering the movie we watched as a treat during coordinating at school. Basically, it was about a coordinator who went schizo- _sorry, _schizophrenic, and ended up getting locked in the looney bin. His lips pursed.

"That's Pokéstar Studio's version, Dawn."

"But it's based on a true story, right?"

"_Based." _his voice softened. "I know from your file that you enjoy coordinating, anything to do with coordinating, from magazine articles to movies. That's a wonderful thing, Dawn, but those movies and articles aren't a good place to learn about mental illness. There are many forms and degrees of schizophrenia, from hearing small flashes of voices to going into a full out rage from influential hallucinations. Yours isn't like the one in _Of a Different Mind."_

Wasn't it? I saw people who weren't there. Just like the girl in the movie. Dr. Charon continued.

"What you are experiencing is what we'd call undifferentiated schizophrenia, meaning you're displaying a limited number of primary symptoms-in your case, seeing visions and hearing voices. Visual and auditory hallucinations."

"What about paranoia?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together in confusion.

"We see no evidence of that. You show no signs of disorganized behavior or speech patterns-"

"What about my stuttering?"

"That's unrelated." he said, shaking his head. "You display none of the other symptoms, Dawn."

"Will I? Ever?"

"Not necessarily." he pushed his glasses up his nose, closing his eyes, almost as if he planned on lecturing me. "We'll have to be vigilant, of course, but we've caught this early. Usually a diagnosis isn't made until a patient is in her late teens or twenties. It's like catching a disease in its early stages, when we have the best chance to minimize its progression."

"And get rid of it." I chimed in. A moment of an uncomfortable silence. I began fingering the amethyst of my pendant. Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Schizophrenia, Dawn..." he swallowed, as if unsure how to state this. "Is not like the flu. It's permanent." I swallowed. That's why he wasn't talking. This was permanent. I couldn't get rid of it, no matter how hard I tried. Blood thundered in my ears, drowning out his next words.

"Piplup?" Piplup asked form my lap. I glanced up.

"Dawn, are you listening?" I nodded. "Schizophrenia is not a life sentence, but a lifelong condition. Like having asthma. With lifestyle changes and medication, it can be controlled, and you can live an otherwise normal life. So normal, in fact, that no one would even know unless you choose to tell them." He leaned back, holding my gaze. "Earlier you said you were determined to do whatever it took to get through this. I know you were hoping for a quick fix, but this is going to require that same level of maturity and determination. Are you still prepared for that, Dawn?"

I had more questions. Did it usually happen this fast, with no warning? One day you're walking around, totally normal, and the next you're hallucinating and running screaming through the halls? Then, bam, you get told you're a schizophrenic, case closed? That simple?

It all seemed to sudden. But when I looked up at Dr. Charon, watching me expectantly, waiting for me to get on with the next phase, I was afraid if I said anything other than what he wanted to hear, it would sound like some sort of denial. If I did that, I would never get out of Lyle House.

So I nodded determinedly.

"I just want to get better."

"Good." he nodded in approval. "Then we'll begin."

o.0.o.0.o

Dr. Charon explained about the medication. It was supposed to stop my hallucinations. Once they had the does adjusted, there shouldn't be any significant side effects, but at first I might experience partial hallucinations, depression, and paranoia. Great. Sounded like the cure was as bad as the disease.

Dr. Charon assured me that by the time I left the group home, taking pills would be no different than taking daily asthma medicine. "That's how you need to think of schizophrenia, Dawn. As a medical condition." he said. "You did nothing to cause it."

Yeah, and I also could do nothing to cure it.

"You'll go through a period of depression, anger, and even denial. That's natural, and we'll deal with that in our sessions. You'll meet with me for an hour a day."

"Are there group sessions, too?" I asked.

"No. Someday you may decided you want to explore the dynamics of group therapy and we can discuss that later. But at Lyle House, we believe that privacy is critical. You need to fully accept your condition before you'll be comfortable sharing it with others." he laid his notebook on the desk and folded his hands. "And that leads to our final topic for today. Privacy. As I'm sure you guessed, all the residents here are cooping with mental issues,"

I paused for a moment, trying to figure out who had what. Onyx had his 'thing' for fire, and Jade had schizotypal personality disorder. Then there was Ursula, who I was guessing was bipolar, based on what happened during lunch today. That, or a damn good actress. Paul just seemed to be an antisocial jerk, whereas Jimmy seemed overall 'normal'. Marina was just plain to happy for her own good, and Zoey had a poltergeist...?

This was all to confusing.

"But that," continued Dr. Charon. "Is all anyone needs to know. We will not share details of your condition, your symptoms, or your treatment with anyone here. If anyone pressures you for details, you are to come to us right away."

"To late for that." I murmured. "They already know."

"What?" the outrage blazing in his eyes told me I should have kept my mouth shut. I knew from my past therapy sessions that it was important to share anything that was bothering me, but I didn't need to start my relationships at Lyle House by tattling. I was gonna be stuck with these kids for the next month. I didn't want to be known as a snitch.

"Not about the schizophrenia." I said hurriedly. "Just... someone knew about me seeing things. Ghosts. Which I never _mentioned. _To anyone."

"Who was it?"

"I-I'd rather not say." I said, putting on a big cheery smile. "It was really no big deal." he unfolded his hands.

"Yes, it is a big deal, Dawn. But I also appreciate that you don't want to get anyone in trouble. I have a good feeling who it was, what with that crazy hearing of hers..."

"It wasn't Jade." I said coldly, cutting him off. "Just because her hearing is better than others due to lack of sight does not mean she heard anything about this. Jade is my... friend." Yes, I knew her for only a day, and even though she would probably be completely against our friendship, she was a good person, and seemed to be damn good at keeping a secret. Jade would never tell, even if I said it was okay. Charon blinked, as if going over the faces of Lyle House until he came up with the right one.

"Then maybe her...? She must have been eavesdropping when we were discussing your hallucinations, she's been known to do it before, even to Jade herself." he shook his head in disgust. "She simply must have jumped to her own conclusions about..." a dismissive wave of his hand. "Ghosts. I'm sorry this happened, but I promise it will be handled discreetly."

"With Jade uninvolved?"

"Yes. And she also won't know you told us anything, but this must be dealt with." he eased back into his seat. "I'm sorry this happened on your first day. Young people, by nature, are curious, and as hard as we strive to provide privacy, it isn't always possible in such tight living quarters."

"It's okay, really. No one made a big deal of it. In fact," I smiled fondly. "Paul defended me." he raised an eyebrow.

"_Paul _defended you?" I nodded.

"Is there something strange about that?"

"No. Not at all. Actually, this is great progress." he trailed off, but then went back to the topic. "Regardless, we have a very good group of young people here. In general, they are very respectful and accepting. That's also important at Lyle House. You have a difficult road ahead, and we're all here to make that journey as smooth as possible."

o.0.o.0.o

Schizo.

It didn't matter how many times Dr. Charon compared it to a disease or physical disability, it wasn't the same thing. It just wasn't. I had schizophrenia. I was a schizo.

This is how I thought of it: If I saw two guys in the sidewalk, one in a wheelchair and one talking to himself, who would I more likely invite into my home if he asked for help? Which would I slam and lock the door in his face?

Dr. Charon said it was just a matter of taking my meds and learning to cope. If it was that easy, why were there people wandering the streets talking to themselves? Crazy-eyed homeless people shouting at thin air? Seeing people who weren't there... Hearing voices that didn't exist...

Schizo.

Just like me.

o.0.o.0.o

After my session, I decided I need a place to sit and think in silence. I checked the media room, and saw Marina and Jimmy having a dance off on the Wii-U, pop music blasting from the TV. Paul's face was a mix of torture and absolute boredom, whereas Ursula cooed over him. I scowled seeing her, still angry for the lunch incident, and moved on. At least now I know why Paul looks so tortured...

I suddenly heard the steady strum of a guitar, and slowly, lyrics began to filter into the hall.

"_I'm not your average type of girl,_

_Not part of the stereotypical world._

_Don't wanna be anything but myself._

_I was never good at tryin' to be someone else._

_Take me as I am._

_I'm not changing for anyone._

_Guess it's me against the world,_

_But tell me one thing."_

I slowly followed the music, and finally came to another room a few doors down, inside were two guitars, one acoustic, one electric, an oldish piano, and a drum set, shiny and new-looking. This must be why the technology is so old... I glanced around, trying to find the source of the music. I saw Jade, sitting on a stool, all her pokémon around her as she strummed skillfully at the guitar sitting on her lap.

"_Why do they hate me for being different?_

_Different._

_And when will they see that being different is good?_

_Different._

_High school life is so black and white._

_You either fit in or stick out, but that's just life._

_For me I'm sure that someday they will find,_

_That fitting in was overrated._

_So why do they hate me for being different?_

_Different._

_And when will they see that being different is good?_

_Different."_

Slowly, I eased the door open a little, and sat slowly next to Ziya the Jolteon. She turned towards me, and smirked slightly, turning back to her trainer and the music. Jade seemed so focused on her music that she didn't hear me come in. The music began to speed up a bit.

"_They may call you an outcast,_

_Don't let it get to your heart._

_When you're feeling invisible, you're perfect_

_Just the way you are._

_Why do they hate me for being different?_

_Different._

_And when will they see that being different is good?_

_Different._

_Take me as I am._

_I'm not changing for anyone._

_Guess it's me against the world. Oh._

_I realized that different was just being myself._

_I'm different."_

Then she stopped playing smiling slightly, and I realized something about Jade. Behind that cold exterior she tried to show to everyone, she was just as confused and scared. That song she played just proved it.

"Great as always, Jade." I snapped my head to the side, seeing Onyx come striding in, hands in pockets, smirking. He glanced at me, but said nothing.

"Onyx." Jade said with a nod. She seemed used to this. Onyx sat at the drum set.

"Aw, you done? I was hoping another duet was in order, hm? You know I have great drum skills." Jade did nothing, just tuned her guitar, strumming at the strings every so often to check. "I'm sure Dawn would love to hear another tune." Jade nearly dropped her guitar at this.

"Dawn is here? She heard that?"

"Yup. Over there by Ziya." Jade turned her head towards her respective pokémon.

"Ziya! What the hell?" the Jolteon just shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey, it was good!" I exclaimed, scrambling to get up. "I had no idea you could play."

"Meh." Jade responded, gripping the guitar again and going back to adjusting and strumming.

"That was beautiful, really." I paused. "What song was that? I've never heard of it before."

"Different, by April Lockhart. She's not very well known, came around 2011, and wrote a six song album... but that was about it. She did two other singles. Not very well known since the music didn't go far." Jade shrugged. "But I like her music a lot."

"So... what is this?" I asked, gesturing around the room.

"Basically our music room. Originally, only this old thing was this 'ole piano." Onyx said, patting the grand instrument. "But then I came along, and I was like 'Da hell? Where're my drums?'. So I had them bring these bad boys in here." he went back to the drums that were such a dark navy blue that at first glance I was sure they were black.

"Yours?" I asked.

"Yup." Onyx grinned with pride. "Then Jade here came in, with two guitars!" I glanced at the other guitar sitting in the stand, the outside edge black, fading to purple as it reached the center. The acoustic one in Jade's hands was a normal tan color accented with some pretty neat designs. Under the soundhole was a heart with wings coming from behind it. Black swirls came from under the heart, twisting down and around the saddle. "Usually, if you can't find Jade anywhere, you can find her in here, pouring her heart and soul into music." I glanced at Jade, and saw she was trying to hide the redness growing on her cheeks.

"Jade," I said, drawing out her name. "Are you blushing?"

"No." she answered.

"You are! You totally are!

"No, I'm not." Jade said, standing up and moving back to the stand next to the other guitar. Placing it there expertly, she pulled out her pokéballs and returned all her pokémon minus Hope and Esmeralda. Then she walked out. Onyx shrugged, and followed her out with a two fingered salute. I stayed there for a few moments, and then Marina walked in.

She was humming happily as she went over to a baseball cap sitting haphazardly on the piano. She picked it up, twirling it on her finger, obviously not noticing me. She turned, and a flash of surprise crossed her features before replaced by her usually cheery grin.

"Dawn! Hey!" she said.

"Hi." I responded. She stepped closer, smile fading.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

_I'm fine _sprang to my lips, but I couldn't force it out. In truth, I was anything but fine. I wanted to say I wasn't. I wanted it to be okay to say I wasn't. But something about her overall cheeriness seemed to perfect and pure, and truthfully, I was afraid that if I did tell her, it would taint it. Somehow, in my mind, keeping this stuff to myself would be right.

"I'm fine." I said. She switched the hat to her other hand, watching me.

"Okay." she said after a while. "But a word of advice? Don't let them catch you holing up in here."

"You found it." another voice said gruffly. A shiver went down my spine as I saw Paul, hands in his pockets, watching us both intently, specifically, me. Like I was a freak.

Like I was a schizo.

"Take a picture." I snapped. "It'll last longer." he didn't even blink. Marina glanced between the two of us, obviously confused by my hostility, but regardless, answered Paul.

"Yup! Jimmy's always leaving this thing in the weirdest places. Found it on the piano!" she let out a good natured laugh, then turned to me. "Listen, we're going to go outback to let our pokémon out. You can join us, if you want." she winked, and flashed the peace sign. "I'm excited to watch that coordinating battle between you and Jade!"

Then she hurried out of the room, no doubt going to return the hat to Jimmy. I sat up, struggling for something to say, anything to keep Marina here with me and Paul. I needed someone to talk to, and not about Dr. Charon or schizophrenia. About anything _but _that. Marina seemed normal, as did Jimmy. I desperately needed normal, to _feel _normal.

I got up to follow Marina out. Maybe I needed to go outside, to talk to my pokémon, coordinate with Jade. Maybe then I'll feel happier. Normal. Only thing blocking me was six foot Paul, standing in the doorway, and I was ready to plow him down if I had to.

"You should follow her advice, you know." he said, not moving. "Holing yourself up only pisses them off. It's like going to your room during the day. You'll get a lecture on moping around." I scowled.

"I'm not-"

"Their words, not mine." he said. "I'm only warning you, and it's your choice wether or not you heed the warning. They'll be happier if you're up and about, hanging around us." he paused. I thought about this for a moment.

"I suppose that these people aren't so bad. Not _too _crazy." I said. "Minus Ursula." he moved to the side, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Minus Ursula." he nodded in confirmation.

"Hey, thanks for earlier." I said, walking alongside him. He simply raised an eyebrow. "For defending me at lunch...?"

"She had it coming." he said as a simple response.

"Paul? Oh, there you are. Your classes are starting." Mrs. Talbot said, coming around the corner. She glanced at me, and then back at Paul, smiling. "I'm glad to see that you're welcoming Dawn to the home! That's great progress!"

Paul simply scowled, and followed Mrs. Talbot out of the room.

o.0.o.0.o

When I left the music room, a few minutes after Mrs. Talbot whisked Paul away for his classes, I came back only to find the same nurse coming back to find me. The other kids returned to their classes, and she sent me to the kitchen to peel. Potatoes this time.

Before I got started, she gave me another pill. I wanted to ask when I could expect them to start working, but if I did, then I'd have to admit I was still hearing voices. I wasn't seeing anything, though. Just that hand this morning, right after I took the pills. So maybe they _were _working. Maybe t didn't get any better than this. What would I do then?

Simple: Fake it. Block it out. Block the voices and the visions and if I did get them, pretend I wasn't hearing or seeing anything. Learn to-

A scream echoed through the house.

I jumped, the peeler clattering into the sink. As my heart thumped, I listened for a reaction. No reaction would mean the voice had been in my head. See? I was learning already.

"Zoey Nozomi! Get back here!" A door slammed. Footsteps raced down the hall, punctuated by sobs. The hairs on my neck rose as I thought of the crying girl at school. But I forced myself to the door and cracked it open just in time to see Zoey lurch up the stairs.

"Enjoying the show?" I jumped and caught Ursula smirking at me, as if she found this situation funny. I glared at her as Miss Van Curd strode from the living room and into the hall.

"I have had it!" the other voice boomed from the classroom. "I expected some behavioral problems tutoring in a place like this, but that girl needs professional help."

"Ms. Wang, please," Miss Van Curd said. "Not in front of-"

"She through a pencil at me. Whipped it. Like a weapon. Another half inch and she'd have taken my eye out. She broke the skin. Blood. From a pencil! All because I dared to suggest that a tenth grade student should be able to understand basic algebra." Miss Van Curd tugged her into the hall, but the woman broke and and stormed into another room.

"Where's the directors number? I'm quitting. That girl is a menace!"

A shadow glided past me and I turned to see Paul at my shoulder. As the dining room door swung shut behind him, I caught a glimpse of books and a calculator spread across the table. He must have been there the whole time doing independent work. He brushed past me and into the pantry for an extra snack. As he came back and looked down at me, I expected some sarcastic comment about eavesdropping, but he only muttered four words.

"Welcome to the madhouse."

o.0.o.0.o

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	7. The Poltergeist

**Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all your reviews!**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or the overall plot for the story, which belongs respectively to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_The Poltergeist_

o.0.o.0.o

After Zoey's outburst and Ms. Wang's quitting, calm descended. Sorta like the calm before a storm, only in reverse. Minus Zoey, everyone returned to their classes while the nurses put dinner in the oven, then sequestered themselves in Dr. Charon's office, on a conference call, not to be disturbed.

No one had disagreed with Ms. Wang's explanation of how things went. No one tried to say it was an accident. No one even seemed surprised that Zoey had almost put someone's eye out with a pencil. Like this was completely normal...

When dinner came, Mrs. Talbot served the food, then retreated into the office again. Zoey joined us, absolutely silent. Her eyes were all red, like she had been crying. I saw Jimmy sneak her a juice box, even though we were supposed to be having milk, while Marina hovered over her, coaxing her to eat. I nudged Jade to have her struck up conversation about coordinating, which she complied to, and I joined in. For a few moments, this seemed to have distracted her, and she talked and laughed with our ideas, but you could see it in her eyes. She was still thinking about how she almost took out a tutors eye with a pencil.

After dinner, Marina reminded us that it was movie night, when they could get a DVD delivered. She gave Zoey the honor of choosing, and she immediately went with _The Hunger Games. _Miss Van Curd, however, quickly dismissed the idea when she read the summery of the movie. After a few minutes, she settled on _Pokémon Ranger; Guardian Signs, _a movie base directly off the video game. While she and Marina went to tell the nurses, Jade announced, or rather, coldly stated, that she had to fold the now-clean laundry. I offered to help.

o.0.o.0.o

We each carried a basket to the room Jade shared with Ursula. I could tell neither was pleased with the arrangement, and it wasn't just the cold and heavy tension that settled over my shoulders when I walked in. I swore I saw pencil marks on the windowsill, more making a steady but barely noticeable dotted line across the floor, dividing the room in half.

Jade's side was so clean it looked like mine when I'd first walked in. Brail books were organized by what I guessed was alphabetical order on the bookshelf, and their was almost no makeup on the dresser. Sometimes, I don't even think she used the products. Her dresser and bed, however, was a different matter. Nine small eeveelution action figures-one of each and one I did not recognize- were placed in a neat line across the dresser, while small eeveelution plush dolls about seven inches tall lined the bed, neat and orderly.

Ursula's half, however, seemed to have enough clutter for the both of them. Dresses and T-shirts hung from the bedposts, textbooks balanced precariously on the desk, tons of makeup left open on the dresser, drawers leaking clothing. It seemed that half was everything Jade's wasn't, and for one quick moment, I swore it was the source of reeking perfume. To me, it didn't seem like Ursula was the type to keep her room this messy, and I wondered if she did just to irritate Jade.

"Eeveelution fan?" I asked, nodding towards the plush dolls.

"Uh-huh." Jade said in response, setting the basket down on her bed. She moved to the dresser, picked up a figure, and tossed it to me. "That's Slyveon." I opened my palms and stared at the tiny figure of a pink and white pokémon with huge blue eyes.

"It's adorable!" I exclaimed. Jade nodded, then smirked.

"Hey, my birthday's next week. Thinking of any upcoming birthday presents for me? Go get me the real thing."

"My, my, Jade, are you perhaps cracking a joke?" I asked, a slight hint of amusement in my voice. Jade shrugged. "If you want one so bad," I said, passing the figure back to her. "Why don't you just evolve Eevee?" Jade nearly dropped the Sylveon figure. Quickly, though, she caught herself and placed it neatly where it was before.

"I can't do that." Jade said as Hope crawled up her leg and settled on her shoulder. "Hope was the first and last gift from my mom. I can't evolve her." As if to prove the point, she reached up to Hope's fur collar and brushed some of it away, revealing an everstone attached to a string, wound around her neck.

"Oh." Was all I could say in response. Jade shrugged, and moved back to the laundry. There was a pause between us, interrupted as Marina walked in.

"Want some help?" she asked. I shrugged, and Jade mimicked the action. Marina walked over to the basket overflowing with clothing, and began folding with us. There was a long pause.

"Alright, I could beat around the bush, but I think that would be kinda mean, ya know? So I'm going to come straight out and ask. Did I hear right? That you're here because you see ghosts?" Jade perked up slightly, raising her head and turning towards my direction.

The words _I don't want to talk about it _sprang to my mind. But I _did _want to talk about it. I longed to pick up the phone and call Kenny, but I wasn't sure how much he's heard about what happened and wether or not they'd even understand. The two people who seemed least likely to make fun of me were standing right here, asking for my story.

So I gave it to them.

When I finished, Marina stared openmouthed while Jade held a shirt for a good thirty seconds. Both remembered what we were doing and then went back to it, Jade going to folding the shirt and Marina snatching a pair of socks.

"Talk about intense." Marina said.

"Indeed." Jade mumbled, eyebrows furrowing together.

"No wonder I'm here, huh?" I said jokingly, playfully punching Marina's arm.

"You stay up till three in the morning studying for geometry, and then you start seeing Custodian McMelty?" Marina mused. "Maybe that's it. Lack of sleep, I mean, and stress. All that piled up and then... bam."

"Creative overload?" I laughed. Marina laughed with me, but Jade did not. She still had that intense, concentrated look on her face.

"Did you look it up?" she finally asked.

"Looked what up?"

"The custodian." Jade answered. I frowned, but she went on. "You got chased by a guy in a custodian's uniform, right? And he was burned, like he died in some fire or explosion. If it really happened, it would have made the papers. You should look it up online."

I wouldn't say the thought hadn't occurred to me, but I'd only given it permission to flit through my brain, like a pokémon using quick attack, moving to fast for me to get a look. Maybe... Maybe I _was _seeing ghosts? My brain flashed _don't go there _in neon colored warnings, but something about this was fascinating me, making me curious. Almost like I _wanted _to go there.

"Are you perhaps suggesting," I said while rubbing my temples. "That I really _can _see ghosts?" Jade said nothing, simply shrugged.

"It's not like it's impossible." Marina chirped. "I mean, think about all those psychic kids shows. There're tons!"

"Yeah, but they're shows." I said. Ghosts aren't real, ghosts are for crazy people. What I saw were hallucinations, and the sooner I accepted that, the sooner I'd get out of here. "I mean, it's be cool if that's what it really was, but Dr. Charon said seeing visions were a clear sign of mental illness."

"Ah, the label. Arceus, they love their labels here." Jade groaned. "Can't even let a girl get through her first day without slapping one on."

"Mines paranoid schizophrenia." Marina whispered. I raised an eyebrow, and she took it as a sign to elaborate. "See, sometimes I have dreams of stuff that happens in the future, and sometimes those dreams are like me being... out of my body, I guess? Like, I'm asleep, and then I wake up watching myself sleep. I walk around a little bit, kinda panicked, then I blink and I wake up in my body again." Jade must've sensed the look I was giving her.

"Hey, we both know we aren't supposed to share, protecting our privacy and all that shit. But it's not like it's a huge secret that I'm Schizotypal. I just don't like people. So what if I'm not a social beautifly?" she scowled. "Honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with me."

"You don't agree." Marina said. I was taken aback by the disappointment in her voice.

"It's not like that!" I said hurriedly. "Just... there might be some label that people don't want to share."

"Like what?" Jade demanded. I concentrated on mating socks with their correct pair for a minute. I wanted to tell them, like the stuff about the ghosts. As scared as I was to tell someone, to sound like a freak, I wanted to tell someone. See what they said, get that second opinion.

"They say I have undifferentiated schizophrenia." I studied their reaction, but only got a small frown of confusion from Marina and a stoic look from Jade.

"I know that there are different types of schizophrenia... Isn't that multiple personality?" Marina asked.

"No. Mine is like, you know, schizo." Jade's expressions didn't change.

"So... seeing things and stuff?" I lifted up a bright pink gap T-shirt. No need to check the name tag. I folded it and added it to Marina's pile.

"There's a whole lot of other symptoms, but I don't have them."

"None of them?" Marina asked. I shrugged.

"Guess not." Again, Jade scowled.

"Listen, all I did was tell some bitch at my old school to lay off because I wanted her to stop bothering me. Then she punched me, so I punched her back, and went a tiny bit overkill, you know? _Self defense."_

"I was screaming and crying from one of my dreams. I wouldn't stop and started fighting my parents because they were trying to wake me up." Marina said. Jade eased back a little, crossing her arms in irritation.

"That's what I hate about it. You have one weird episode and they slap a label, like coughing and they decide you've got pneumonia. I bet their are a lot of other symptoms to Schizotypal Personality Disorder and Paranoid Schizophrenia that neither of us," she gestured between her and Marina. "Have." Her hand reached up to pet Hope as she crawled onto her head. "So what else come's with schizophrenia?"

"Dr. Charon didn't exactly say."

"Huh. Marina?"

"Nope." Marina shook her head. Jade paused.

"I guess I could look it up on the internet. I should."

"_We _should. Schizophrenia and SPD." Jade said. I didn't need to be told that SPD stood for Schizotypal Personality Disorder.

"I would too..." Marina said, looking down. "I mean, just to be sure, to know more, you know? Especially with the way things are going with Zoey..." She rubbed her mouth with the back of her hand, and glanced to Jade.

"I think you're going to moving in with Dawn soon, Marina." Jade said quietly.

"They're transferring her?" I asked. Jade turned her head away, sitting on the bed and taking Hope from her head, scratching her behind the ears.

"Probably. They've been talking about it for a while. This place if for kids who have problems, but they're not to bad and getting better."

"A couple weeks after I got here," Marina piped up. "They transferred a kid named Barry. He wasn't getting worse or anything, not like Zoey. He just didn't want to get better... Didn't think there was anything wrong with himself. So off he went..." she paused. "Taught me a lesson. We may not like their meds and labels, but it's better to just keep our mouth shut, play the game, and get out of here the _right _way."

"And go home." Jade whispered. A moment of silence, none of us moving. Then Marina leaned forward, and yanked the final green sock from my grasp, waving it back and forth in front of my face.

"Whoops." I said, not even realizing that I was holding it. Marina folded the pair together, then took the final purple sock and slingshotted it over to Ursula's side of the room. She threw her hands in the air as a victory salute and grinned.

"Two points!" she exclaimed. "Done and done. It should be movie time soon." I paused for a moment.

"Hey, guys." I said. "I know what everyone else is in for, and you guys know too, right?" Marina grinned.

"Of course! The thing is," she snickered behind her hand. "Onyx knows about us and we know about him, and with Ursula and Zoey... well, that's kinda obvious, isn't it?" I paused.

"I know about Onyx... should I tell him about me?" I asked quietly. Jade shrugged.

"If you want too." she answered.

"Well... what about Jimmy and Paul? I mean, overall, Jimmy seems normal and Paul just seems to be a jerk. What are _they _here for?" Again, Jade shrugged.

"Believe me, I'd love to know. Jimmy and Paul, both."

"Jimmy never goes to therapy, but Paul gets more than anyone." Marina said. "No one ever comes to visit them, but sometimes you'll hear them go on about their family. Paul has a brother, Richard, or something? And Jimmy always goes on about his dad."

"What I'm wondering," Jade mused. "If mystery brother slash father are so great, why'd they dump them here and take off? I'd love to see their files." Now I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about Jimmy. And maybe Paul, but mostly because I have a feeling I might need some ammunition against him. But I wouldn't want anyone reading _my _file and I wasn't about to help Jade read theirs. "We can't risk a peek tonight, anyways." she said with an irritated sigh. "With all the commotion with Zoey, they'll be on high alert. I don't want to be transferred for corrupting the new kid."

"Maybe I'll get tossed out for corrupting you." I smirked. Marina caught my grin and laughed.

"Oooh, you're trouble girl, I can tell." Marina said with a wink. Jade smirked, and walked out the door, me following her, and Marina last, shutting the door behind her.

o.0.o.0.o

The movie was pretty good, I guess, but when you're sixteen and watching a PG movie, you get tired. I noticed Jade was nodding off a few time against Onyx, only to catch herself before she actually did fall asleep on the boys shoulder. I smiled, wishing that I could somehow bring matchmaker into the situation, but knowing that with Miss Van Turd patrolling the hallway, that would be impossible.

I watched the silly movie, regardless, thinking about how much better the game was, munching popcorn, and finally relaxing. Talking to Jade and Marina really did help. They didn't think I was crazy. Hell, they didn't even believe I was schizophrenic. For the first time since my breakdown, things didn't look so bad. Maybe life as I knew it hadn't really ended in that classroom. Maybe I was overreacting and going all drama queen.

Did the kids at school know what happened to me? A few saw me run down the hall. More saw me carried out on a stretcher, unconscious. Big deal. I could return in a few weeks and most of the student body probably would probably believe the story that I had family issues and that was why I was gone. Being popular had it's perks.

Tomorrow, I'd e-mail Kenny, tell her I was sick, and there was some family issues going on. Then I'll see what he says. Me being sick... that's probably exactly what he heard, that I had something like mono. I'd get through this. Whatever I thought of their diagnosis, now wasn't the time to argue. I'd take my meds, lie if I had to, get released from Lyle House and get on with my life.

Simple as that.

o.0.o.0.o

"Dawn? Dawn?" Zoey's voice echoed through the deep caves of dreamland, and it took me a few minutes to find the way out. When I opened my eyes, she was leaning over me, bathing me in toothpaste breath. The hand clutching my arm kept trembling, even after she stopped shaking me. I blinked away sleep, and pushed up on my elbows.

"What's wrong?" she let out a shaky sigh, and looked over her shoulder, as if afraid that Miss Van Curd was going to jump in, catching her awake past ten.

"I've been lying her for hours, trying to think of some way to ask you, some way that won't sound completely insane. But I can't. I just can't." She backed away, her skin pale and almost glowing in the darkness. Her hand tugged at the white T-shirt neckline, like it was choking her. She ran a head through her hair, then stopped, pulling off her favorite pair of sunglasses.

"Forgot to take 'em off?" I asked with a small grin. Zoey's serious, frightened face did not waver a bit. She only took the sunglasses off, opened the drawer on my nightstand, and placed them inside beside my precious pokéballs, then shut it. I didn't even blink at this. Zoey left sunglasses in every drawer imaginable. It was unbelievable how many sunglasses I found in the kitchen drawers while trying to find utensils to peel the many vegetables I had to do today. When she looked back to me, still frightened, I suddenly felt extremely scared too. "Zoey?"

"They're going to send me away. Everyone knows they are, that's why they're being so nice to me. I don't want to go, Dawn. They'll lock me up and-" she hiccuped deep breaths, hands running through her hair frantically. When she looked at me, her eyes were wide, begging for help, for anything. "Listen," she whispered. "I know you haven't been here long, but I'm down to the wire, Dawn. I really need your help."

"Okay."

"Really?" she asked. I stifled a yawn as I sat up, kicking blankets off of me. "If there's anything I can do-"

"There is. Thank you." she dropped to her knees and pulled a bag out from under her bed. "I don't know what all you need, but I did one at a sleepover last year, so I gathered up everything we used. There's glass, some spices, a candle..." she swore under her breath. "Matches. Damnit, we don't have any matches! They keep them locked up because of Onyx. Can we do it without lighting the candle?"

"Do what?" I rubbed my hands over my face. I hadn't taken a sleeping pill but still felt that weird fogginess, like I was swimming through a sea of cotton balls. "What exactly are we doing, Zoey?"

"A séance, of course." The sleep fog evaporated, and I wondered if this was a prank. _Haha, new girl sees ghosts, let's mess with her a little. _But her expression... Her expression said otherwise. Then I remembered Ursula's words at lunch.

"The... poltergeist?" I said slowly, carefully. Zoey flew at me so fast that I smacked into the wall, hands flying up to ward her off. But she only pounced down beside me, eyes wild.

"Yes!" she whispered. "I have a poltergeist. It's so obvious, but they won't see it. They tell me 'When Zoey gets mad, she throws things.'. They keep saying it's me doing all this stuff. But would I throw a pencil that hard? Is it even humanly possible to throw a pencil that hard? Did anyone see me throw it? No. I get mad at Ms. Wang and the pencil flies and hits her in the face. Then everyone says, 'Oh, Zoey threw it,' but I didn't. I never do."

"It's the... poltergeist."

"Right! I think it's trying to protect me because every time I get mad, things start flying. I've tried to talk to it, make it stop, tell it that I'm fine on my own, but I can't. I can't because I can't talk to ghosts. That's why I need you. I don't think you're crazy, Dawn. I think you _can _really see them, but you're misjudged. Like me."

I was struggling to keep my face neutral. I once saw a documentary on poltergeist activity. It usually _did _happen around teenagers-especially girls-who were lovelorn, rebellious, and frustrated with hormones coursing through their veins, all their frustration coming out as telekinesis and then eventually taking form of a poltergeist. Some believed girls were just playing pranks, whereas others thought the energy they gave off actually _did _make things move.

"You don't believe me." she said.

"No, I didn't say-"

"You don't _believe _me!" she rose to her knees, eyes blazing with fury and outrage. "Nobody believes me!"

"Zoey, I-"

Behind her, sunglasses rocked back and forth, clattering together against the table. Empty hangers banged back and forth in the closet, almost as if the items were laughing at me.

"O-o-okay, Zoey. I s-s-see-"

"No you _don't!" _she slammed her hands down. The sunglasses jetted into the air, smashing against the ceiling with such force the frames exploded. Small bits of platic rained down.

"Do you see?"

"Y-y-yes." Her hands flew up again, like a conductor hitting the crescendo. A picture leaped from the wall. It smashed onto the hardwood floor, glass spraying. Another fell. Then a third. A sliver of glass shot into my knee. A button of blood welled up and streamed down my leg. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the picture above my bed quaver. It sprang from its moorings.

"No!" Zoey cried. I dove. Zoey hit my side, shoving me out of the way of the pictures past. It struck her shoulder, she twisted. We both rolled from the bed, hitting the floor hard, glass digging into my hands and thighs, blood welling up from the shards. She looked at me. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean- Do you see what happens? I can't control it. I get mad and everything..."

"You think it's the poltergeist." I said. She hadn't touched a single thing, just flung her arms around. She nodded, her eyes welling tears.

"Damnit." she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut. "Damnit, Damnit, Damnit."

I had no idea what was going on. Maybe... Maybe it was a poltergeist? Or maybe... maybe she has some form of telekinesis and whenever she gets mad, it triggers? Maybe if she thought it was a poltergeist, than maybe if she thought I talked it away, it would stop.

"Okay," I said, reaching out with my slightly bloody hand to hold hers, but retreated back, thinking she wouldn't want my blood smeared all over her hand. "Get the candle and-" The door shot open and Mrs. Talbot's bathrobed form stood silhouetted in the doorway. She flipped on the lights, and I drew back, blinking.

"Oh my Arceus," she breathed, barely above a whisper. "Zoey. What-What have you done?" I jumped to my feet, glad that my socks provided a little protection against the glass in the floor.

"It wasn't her. I-I-I-" for once, I wasn't stuttering. I just couldn't think of the words to explain away this mess. Mrs. Talbot's eyes swept across the room, taking in the glass littering the floor, the many pairs of shattered sunglasses strewn across the room, broken and mangled. He gaze fell on my legs and hands, and she let out a squeak. "It's okay." I said swiping my hands on my pants, finding it to be extremely painful, but forced a smile anyways. "I cut myself earlier. Shaving." she looked at my hands. "Peeling vegetables." She picked her way past me, onto the glass carpeted floor.

"No," Zoey whispered. "Please no. I didn't mean it."

"It's okay hon. We're going to get you help." Miss Van Curd strode in, carrying a needle. She sedated Zoey while Mrs. Talbot tried to calm her, telling her they were transferring her to a better hospital, one more suitable, one that could help her get well faster. When Zoey was unconscious, they shooed me from the room. As I backed into the hall, a hand walloped me in the back, slamming me in the wall. I turned and saw Ursula standing over me, sneering.

"Nice job." she said, crossing her arms. "What'd you do to piss her off?" I glared, and stood to my full height.

"Nothing." I said, the word coming out clear and defiant. "_I'm _not the one who told her I could help." Ursula quirked an eyebrow, her look faltering.

"Help?"

"By contacting her poltergeist." I said, elbowing past her and going down to Marina's room, hoping that she would let me stay the night.

o.0.o.0.o

**Thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoyed!**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


	8. That Week Afterwards

**I will admit it has been a while since I updated this, and for that, I apologize. I started two more parts of 'The Adventure Saga'. Hopefully, you enjoy!**

**Amy47101 does not own pokémon or ****_The Summoning, _****which belongs respectively to Kelley Armstrong.**

o.0.o.0.o

_The Summoning_

_That Week Afterwards..._

o.0.o.0.o

The paramedics came for Zoey. I watched her go. It seemed only right, somehow, because I felt like I was to blame. Asleep, on the stretcher, they loaded her into the ambulance, just like they took me from school. I let out a shuddery sigh, holding Piplup tighter in my arms, and began joking to myself, as if that would somehow lighten the mood. _Ambulances. Only the best and most deluxe transportation for crazy kids._

Miss Van Curd insisted I took half a sleeping pill. I gave in, to tired and confused to refuse. When she did, however, try to give me some of my anti-hallucination medicine, I hid the pill under my tongue.

I haven't seen or heard anything since lunchtime, and while it might be the meds kicking in, I was silently hoping and praying that Jade and Marina were right. From Jade's perspective, that whatever I experienced was simply a mental break from reality due to my lack of sleep. Or I really _am _psychic, like Marina thought. I was hoping for the former. With any luck, I may already be making my trip back to sanity.

But regardless, I had to test the theory. I'll save the pill, and if I saw or heard anything, I'd take it. That would prove the 'mental break from reality' theory. If I kept hearing things even after the pill... fake it. Just fake it, act it out, get it done and over with and leave. That was, I won't end up like Barry, and most recently, Zoey.

Mrs. Talbot hustled me into the kitchen for a glass of milk, as if that would somehow calm my nerves, and then set me up at the couch, Piplup still in my arms. Almost instantly, I fell asleep, but was awoken by what seemed like minutes later as Ms. Talbot brought me to my room. It was clean. Shattered glass and broken sunglasses gone.

I was asleep again before I even got to pull the covers up.

o.0.o.0.o

The smell of Glameow fur awoke me from my sleep, and I wondered, briefly, why the heck a Glameow was in my room. I floated there, feeling like I was trapped in the long strands of hair. The smell made my stomach turn, and I fought through the strands, taking a deep breath as I broke free. My eyes flew open staring at ceiling.

"Dawn?" it was Zoeys voice, timid and wavering. That honestly scared me, considering she seemed to be so confident and filled with bravado when I met her. "Dawn, are you awake?"

I rolled on my side, seeing Zoey sitting on the edge of her bed, wearing her plain white nightshirt, red flannel pants, and bright orange socks with little Chimchars on them. She grinned.

"Funky, huh? I got 'em last Christmas." her voice seemed to become more confident. I pushed myself up, blinking away weariness, the sleeping pill creating a cotton candy that wove around my brain, insisting I go back to sleep. Sunlight streamed through the blind, making the chimchars on Zoeys socks dance as she wiggled her toes. "You know, I had a weird dream last night."

"_You and me both." _I thought, not trusting myself to speak. Zoey continued.

"I dreamed they took me away and I woke up in this hospital. Only, I wasn't on a bed but on a table. A cold, metal table. And there was a woman there, a nurse, wearing one of those masks. She was bending over me, and when I opened my eyes, she jumped." she grinned, gaze shooting my way. "Sorta like you, like I startled her. She calls this guy over, and I ask where I am, but they keep talking. They're mad because I woke up and I wasn't supposed to and now they don't know what to do. I tried to sit, but I was tied down."

That's when Zoeys confidence went downhill. She started trembling slightly, bunching her nightshirt in her hands.

"All of a sudden, I couldn't breath. I couldn't move, I couldn't yell..." she shuddered, gripping her nightshirt tighter. "And then I woke up here." I sat up, fully determined now, after my own dream, to help her out.

"I'm going to help you, Zoey. No need to worry!" I said, getting up and crossing over to her side of the room. She scuttled back in bed, shaking to badly for words. The wood floor was cold, icy cold, perhaps even _unnaturally _cold, but I didn't care. As I reached Zoey, I sat down next to her. "Do you want me to try talking to your poltergeist?" she nodded.

"Tell it to stop. Tell it I'm fine on my own, I don't need help. I can look after myself, for better or for worse." I reached out to lay a hand on her arm, a comforting smile on my lips. I saw my fingers make contact with her arm, but they kept moving. Kept going. _Straight through her arm._

My comforting smile went to openmouthed horror while it took every cell in my being not to scream. Zoey stared at me strangely for a moment before her eyes followed my gaze to my fingers in the middle of her bicep, like I wasn't touching anything at all. She saw my hand pass through her.

And then she started to scream.

I tumbled off her bed, hitting the floor so hard it sent jolts of pain up my spine. When I scrambled up, Zoeys bed was empty, the comforter only wrinkled where I'd been sitting. I took a slow look around the room.

Zoey was gone.

Gone? She'd never been here. They'd taken her away last night. I hadn't dreamed the part, the cuts on my hands and thighs stung from my sudden movement. I pressed my palms to my eyes and backed up till I hit my bed, falling back on it and inhaling deeply. After a moment, I opened my eyes. Sticky strands of sleep were still woven around my brain. I'd been dreaming.

No, Dawn, not dreaming. Not imagining things. Hallucinating. Dr. Charon was right. I had schizophrenia.

But... But what if it wasn't? What if Marina was right and I really could see ghosts?

I shook my head sharply. No, that was impossible. For that to be true, Zoey'd have to be _dead. _That was nuts. Crazy. That's why I was here. I was hallucinating, and I had to accept it.

I reached under my mattress and took out the pill that I saved from the night before. I popped it in my mouth, swallowing it dry, gagging in the process, but getting it down. I had to take me meds. Take them and get better, or I'd get shipped to a real mental hospital.

Like Zoey.

o.0.o.0.o

I picked at my food, scooping one cheerio at a time to make look like I was eating. My mind kept drifting back to Zoey and how scared she was. Terrified of being sent away, of waking up on the metal table. Tied down... unable to breath... I swallowed, pushing the bowl away, not sure if my stomach could handle anymore of the soggy oats in skim milk.

A hallucination. Things like that don't happen in real life.

_And in real life, _my consciousness in the back of my mind taunted. _Girls don't shatter sunglasses and send pictures flying off the wall._

"Miss Van Curd?" I asked as she walked by. She paused, turning to look at me. I swallowed. "About Zoey..."

"She's fine. She's been sent to a better place." I inwardly shuddered at this, remembering what my mom said when my father died: _He went to a better place, Dawn. _I shook my head, berating myself. Zoey was not dead.

"I'd like to talk to her, if I could. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Or thank her for showing me around yesterday." Miss Van Curds severe face softened.

"She needs to settle in, but in a few days I'll call her and you and the others can talk to her as long as you want, okay?" I nodded, relief filling my being. See? Zoey was fine. I was being paranoid.

A stab of dismay shot through me. Paranoia. Another symptom of schizophrenia.

"Miss Van Curd?" I asked as she turned to walk away. "Sorry, but, um, I was talking to Mrs. Talbot yesterday about E-mailing a friend, and she said to talk to you."

"Just use the e-mail program to write your letter and click send. It'll sit in the out-box until I enter the password." Silence settled over us as Miss Van Curd walked away. Jade scowled at her bagel.

"Lies. All lies." I stared at her for a long time, wondering if she really did say this. I shook my head. _You're hearing voices again, Dawn. _

I turned to Marina and struck up a conversation with her about incorporating music and dance into contests.

o.0.o.0.o

It's been a week since the fateful night in which Zoey got taken away, and even now, I couldn't get it off my mind. Even with the medication, I still heard her trying to wake me up at night, but awoke only to he room vacant of anyone but me and the faint smell of Glameow fur.

Some instructions from my school arrived today, so after breakfast and a nice shower, I went down to class with Jade and Marina while the guys ate. Ursula was a no-show. I guess she was in her room, which surprised me, with the nurses whole 'anti-isolation' rule. For a brief moment, I wondered if she missed Zoey. I shook my head at this. Marina, maybe she'd miss, since as far as I knew, she was the only one who tolerated Ursula's mood swings.

With Ursula absent, Marina, Jimmy, and I were the tenth graders. Both did so-so, but seemed more focused on doodling flowers or superheroes, respectively. Paul was in eleventh, though he took private tutoring sessions. Onyx, I found out, was supposed to be in eleventh grade and horrid at math and biology, so bad that he was still studying things on a ninth grade level. Jade, on the other hand, greatly contrasted the boy she seemed to spend most of her time around. Flying past her tenth-grade curriculum meant for her fifteen-year-old mind, she reached levels as high as college level history and english. Strict and quick to the point, I watched as she spouted off historical facts and debated topics with Ms. Wang, who apparently ran a debate team before this.

Why, I wondered, she took a tutoring job in a home for crazy kids after her previous job, I'll never know.

Really, this was like a one-room school house. It didn't matter what we grade or lessons we learned, we were all the same in Ms. Wangs eyes. We shared a room with seven desks, Ms. Wang moving from place to place tutoring us, quietly giving us short lessons here and there. Though, I noticed, Ms. Wang was one of those teachers who trudged through her job, staring at the clock, waiting for the day to end.

I set down my pencil from my English assignment, I raised my arms in the air, arching my back as I stretched. I hated these uncomfortable desks. I glanced around lazily, and saw Marina going at her geometry assignment while Jimmy plowed through his science, both hoping to finish early for outdoor time. I looked over at Onyx and saw that he was practically falling asleep while Jade tutored him on some sort of geometry lesson. Jade turned her head at his steadier breathing, and nudged him awake. He hopped up, blinking his eyes as Jade continued like nothing happened.

I watched amusingly as Onyx slid his arm around her shoulders with a smirk, whereas she paused for a good thirty seconds before shrugging him off, head ducked down to hide her expression. Her dark green gloves set off to the side, her bare hands continued to run over the brail version of Onyx's textbooks, almost as if, like before, nothing even interrupted her lesson.

I stared back down at my worksheet, my curled cursive scrawled across the page. I wasn't getting much done. I couldn't stop thinking about Zoey, what she did, what happened to her...or the crazy hallucinations I've been having in the mornings. I don't know why, but everything seemed to hit me especially hard today. It was sorta like when my Dad died, and the next week or so went by in a blur, suddenly the burden and emotions and memories raining down on me like some cruel joke.

The nurses hadn't seemed at all surprised by the damage in our room that morning. In fact, they seemed more concerned about checking my legs and hands for glass shards and infections. I guess that was just what Zoey did. She got mad and threw things.

But she hadn't thrown them. The sunglasses flew in the air, the pictures off the walls. I _saw _it with my own eyes.

_But you also heard the sobbing girl in the locker rooms and the bathroom. And Custodian McMelty who was totally not real, and the hand on your first day, and Zoey. THE ZOEY WHO WASN'T THERE. Your hand went through her arm. THROUGH IT. How would you know you didn't just dream up the flying sunglasses and pictures? _

I let out a low sigh, scrawling the answer to the last english question and setting the work aside. Hallucinations. I was schizophrenic. How would I know if what I saw was real? And if paranoia was another symptom, how could I trust my own gut feeling about Zoey not being okay?

As I leaned down to scoop up my next and final assignment, geometry(ugh!) I felt a shiver go up my spine, like I was being watched. I pulled my binder up on my desk, and slowly glanced around the room. Ms. Wang was flipping idly through her book, not paying attention. Marina and Jimmy were still working away, Jade trying to keep Onyx focused on his studies. My eyes glanced around the room real quick. Was I hallucinating ghosts again?

I heard a creak outside the door and my eyes shot in that direction, fingers gripping the edge of my desk. There, Paul stood, silent, unnoticed, which was surprising since he seemed to have such a lumbering body. He was standing in the doorway, just staring. At me. We locked eyes for a moment, and then he turned walking away without making a sound.

o.0.o.0.o

Onyx had to stay later for more tutoring, Jade choosing to stay behind with him since Ms. Wang was little to no help. Jimmy went out back for training, while Paul disappeared to wherever he disappeared to. Ursula was still, surprisingly, in her room, and Marina was in therapy.

I couldn't wait for her session to end, just so I could talk to her. Not about Zoey. Not about my fears, or Pauls freaky stalking, or anything to do with my schizophrenia. Just talk to her. About class, about boys, about last nights movie, about coordinating, even the weather. Anything. I just needed to feel normal. Get Zoey out of my mind.

But she seemed to have to stay extra, so, begrudgingly, I trudged away. I headed towards the kitchen, deciding to pull an Andrea and stress eat. Anything to take my mind away from Zoey.

"Hey," Jimmy said, coming up behind me as I ravaged through the cupboards.

"I suppose having chocolate isn't on the menu of healthiness, huh?" I asked, pushing aside a bag of vegetable chips. We don't even get real potato chips! Jimmy chuckled.

"Sadly for you, I just finished off my final stash of candy." he said jokingly, grabbing a package of granola bars. He pulled out one, then held the box out to me. I took two. Stepping out, I nearly ran into Paul, who loomed over the door as if he expected the two of us to forget about him and his insane appetite. Jimmy waved the box of granola bars with a smirk.

"Hey." I said. Paul didn't respond. At least, not right away.

"You've been waking up at the crack of dawn." Paul said suddenly, reaching over me for an apple. I raised an eyebrow, slowly unwrapping one of the granola bars in my hand. Was he starting conversation with me? And how the hell did he know that? "Did Zoey's freakout scare you or something? I heard it, though I didn't think they'd go and send her off." I looked over at Jimmy for help, but only saw the kitchen door swing shut. I chewed on the granola slowly, mulling over a response in my head.

"Um, yeah." I said, swallowing. Paul glared down at me.

"With all the time you had to think, I would've thought you would've come up with a better answer, Troublesome." I returned his icy glare. "Might help if you talk about it."

"_You," _I said slowly. "Want to talk. About what? Feelings?" he gestured vaguely. _Fire away, _his eyes said, though I knew he didn't want to talk about how I felt about Zoey or what happened last night. He wanted to know _exactly _what happened last night, how and why it happened, like when he corned me in the basement on my first day, awaiting the information on ghosts I 'saw'. He wanted the gossip, all the juicy details. Not an ounce of concern was in his eyes, just stern curiousness, patience wearing thin from my long pauses. He narrowed his eyes. "Well?"

"Marina's waiting for me." I said.

"Jimmy can handle that." Paul retorted.

"I've got to go." I said firmly, ending the conversation. Paul raised an eyebrow, and I turned away.

"One question." he said. "Did she really throw those pictures off the wall? Glass shards at you? Her prized sunglasses collection in the air?" His voice was stern and serious, almost as if he knew what really happened. I stiffened, my fist clenching around the second granola bar so tight I was sure I'd crush it. I did not turn around, but squeezed my eyes shut.

"It was a hallucination." I said firmly. "A dream."

"Huh." he responded. "Then we're either both schizophrenic and had the same hallucination, or we both had the same dream." I snapped my head in his direction, a cold retort on my tongue, though his gaze was serious. His tone, serious. He wasn't making fun of me...? I opened my mouth, though no words came out.

"Y-y-you s-s-s-s-"

"Slow down." he said firmly, scowling in the process. I snapped my mouth shut at this. I hated it when adults told me to slow down, but hearing it from someone my own age seemed like a slap in the face.

I turned, and walked out of the room with as much dignity as I could muster.

o.0.o.0.o

**So what do you think? Somewhat of a filler chapter, and we learned a teeny bit about our characters. Hope you enjoy!**

**Amy47101 signing off! ^.^**


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